A Thorny Relationship
by ADamnGoodName
Summary: We always see the Champions from behind our screens, divided by a realm of reality and virtual space, but what will happen when these boundaries are broken and the Champions escape from their homeland of Valoran and strand on our little planet of Earth? Join Hayden in his encounters with some of these Champions and his quest to set everything straight, on personal level as well...
1. The Thorns Rise

**Sooooo, this is my first attempt at a fanfic, so I'm still struggling with the mechanics of managing these things, I even had to search for a while to divide it in chapters :o And another thing, English is not my native language, so any grammar corrections are greatly appreciated n.n Enjoy! And rate and comment, all those things, bla bla**

**I own nothing except for the OC's, don't kill me Riot for using characters from your game ._.**

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><p><strong>A Thorny Relationship<strong>

**The Thorns Rise**

Well hello there. My name is Hayden- Do not question the awesomeness -a 24 years old ex-student. Nothing much to say about myself. I lived on myself, quite lonely, since I'm more the introvert type. The only ones that had yet entered this small house were some friends. Enough blabbering, I'm here to tell you the story of something quite...out of the ordinary. Time to switch to the third person-perspective, so it isn't so awkward for me...

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><p>Just another average evening during summer break. Hayden was sitting in front of his laptop, the moon silently gazing over him through his window. No more chores to do, no one to talk with, what was left? That's right, League of Legends.<br>Hayden started up Skype and saw that a good friend of his, Ellie, was online. He clicked on her panel and called her. As usual, she answered the call.

'Hayden!' she called out warmheartedly. He sighed. Actually, he hated his name. Just because his parents decided they wanted him to have a "special name" he was stuck with this one. Shrugging it off, he greeted her back and a moment later they were casually chatting.  
>'Say, interested in some matches?' He asked. Immediately her voice echoed through the speakers.<p>

'Sure!' she exclaimed enthusiastically. Smiling, Hayden moved his mouse to the icon of League of Legends, after which he logged in. Less than two seconds later he already got an invitation from Zhedjax- Ellie, for the slowpokes- for a normal 5v5, to warm up. It didn't take more that 3 seconds or so to get out of queue and into Champion Select, which was very admirable and enjoyable.

'That was fast.' sounded Ellie over Skype.

'You said it.'

As fast as he could he typed 'mid', so he could have his desired role. Too bad for him, there was someone with a faster computer. Ellie giggled at his disappointment.

'Wanna be my sup, then? You can still be a mage.'

-'Well, okay then. But you better not troll me this time...'

He could already imagine Ellie smiling broadly behind her screen, having to resist the urge to pick a troll AD-Carry.

'Fine, fine...'

It was her time to sigh in disappointment, but then she locked in Vayne, the Night Hunter.

'Are we going to rape late game again, Miss?' he chuckled. Hayden let his mouse hover over the Champions, doubting which one to choose. So many champs...But she didn't troll, so he wouldn't either, fair is fair. He sought out a Support with a lot of damage, and came out on Zyra, Rise of the Thorns, one of his favorites. Suddenly noticing he was the only one delaying the timer, he quickly locked in, and the timer started to run out.

'This time you better say it before you engage, Ellie. Otherwise I'm afraid I'm gonna have to let you die...I'm not Thresh this time.'

-'Pfft. Playing safe is for pussies! I'll show you some silver bolts pierced so deep they have to respawn twice to get them out!'

Always the excited one, she was perfect as an aggressive AD-Carry. Although a bit too excited sometimes... Maybe she should play Jinx. Nothing out of place, the match loaded and started, with some minor skirmishes. Their team claimed first blood due to an excessively good gank of Elise on the toplane. At the 20 minute mark, something happened. Everyone started to randomly disconnect and reconnect, which caused some raging among both teams. ,

'What are we, EUW?'

Ellie hissed again after a disconnect, causing her Champion to just walk into an enemy turret and die.  
>'I don't get it either Ell..'<p>

Hayden had already checked the server status, but it said NA was still online and running. Then he suddenly noticed something. The characters weren't moving as usual. Lux, who currently disconnected, froze in place, and instead of walking back to base, she started trying to recall, but it was not just a normal recall. In a radius of 3 meters around her, a massive amount of runes were appearing while she was ascending into the sky. But then her summoner reconnected once more and she fell to the ground. Over at the wolves camp he saw Elise..trying to do the same? This couldn't be a visual bug, players have to be connected and command the recall for the Champions to be able to recall, what was this? It was almost as if the Champions themselves wanted to escape from the Rift. Right after he thought that he started laughing out loud. This was a game, not some real event where those people were locked up to fight. But still..

'Hey Ellie, did you look at the champs of other players when they disconnect?'

-'Hmm? No, I wasn't quite paying attention to that, since I'm too frustrated trying not to die every time I walk into my lane.'

'Then look closely now. Right now Yasuo is disconnected. Look at what he does.'

-'He..he seems to be recalling? But what is that kind of recall? It seems like some overpowered version of the recall. And what the fuck are all those runes about?'

Suddenly Hayden's screen turned gray as he once more received the Curse of the Disconnect. But this time the disconnecting didn't stop. He just couldn't reconnect anymore. He was sure that at that moment Zyra was doing the overpowered recall, which he still believed was a recall for trying to get out of the Rift. In a flash, his screen turned black.

'Hayden? Hayden!?'

Ellie's voice resonated from the speakers, panicking.

'Easy, Ell, what's so urgent?'

-'Zyra just successfully recalled!'

He tensed up.

'And she disappeared from the Rift!'

Now his heart froze. How...

'She is just gone now! She, her icon, on the scoreboard, everything disappeared! And holy...Now Jinx did the same!'

Out of the blue she gasped.

'And now my screen turned pitch-black! WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING!?'

-'Easy Ellie, it may be be just a glitch or something, no need to panic from a game crash, I-'

His next words were cut short by the fact that his laptop seemingly exploded. The sound of an explosion was there, the heat, and his screen turned into a hellish green from the black it was mere moments ago. The only thing that the explosion missed were sharp splinters of glass burying themselves in his skin. But it sounded like a real life explosion. He could feel the deep bass tone which trembled in his gut. Outside, the sky turned berserk. A barrage of lightning randomly crashed down over the town, causing even more noise. He could faintly hear Ellie's surprised voice before the lightning suddenly disappeared and everything faded away and the the only sound remaining was a crackling noise.

Gaping and gazing at the destruction in front of him he was just sitting there for a few seconds, until he heard a loud bump coming from his bedroom upstairs. After the event of the match just freaking out and his computer crashing he was completely tensed up while cautiously walked upstairs.

When he approached his room, he heard a faint crackling, as if something rough shaved the floor of the chamber. Hayden gulped and opened his door very, very, very slowly, peaking inside from the little gap he made. He saw a glimpse of a womanly body lying on his bed, disoriented and grunting. She was shaking her head to work out the dizziness, her eyes still closed. His eyes went wide open from surprise and shock. He immediately closed the door again and froze in front of it.

_This can't be true, this can't be true, this can't be true..._

After a few minutes, he caught his breath again and opened his door, now determined to find out what and how. However, as soon as he did this, he was entangled by roots who kept his arms and legs in place, while a thorny vine approached his neck.

'What lurks in the shadows?' said a sultry, yet slightly distorted voice. The figure which he saw lying on the bed mere minutes ago now stood in front of him. Her long, red hair accentuated her curvy body , which was almost not covered in any clothing or coverage, save for some leaves and plant-like extensions. Even entangled, it was difficult to not stare at her well-endowed chest, covered with just some leaves. From her yellow, almost glowing eyes came a dark, suspecting glare, and her petal-like ears completed her face.

'Z-Zyra..' Hayden muttered. The woman raised her eyebrows by hearing her name. The tip of the root in front of his neck hovered a little bit, almost hypnotizing.

'How do you know my name?' she said, with her characteristic slightly echoing voice.

'If you release me from your grip, I can explain everything.'

Hayden thought about things he could do to prepare her for the fact she wasn't even supposed to be a real person. If she even would release him. Perhaps she would let him hang there and crush him or something. She placed her hands on her hips and seemed in doubt. She hesitated a bit, but then he felt the grip of the thorns decreasing, before they completely released him and he fell on the floor. When he got up again, he looked into the tip of a thorn which now was just some centimeters from his face. The reddish tint and the pulsating colour made sure to show it was containing a deadly venom.

'However... should you betray me, I will not hesitate to rip you apart. Did you register that?'

Intensely nodding, Hayden raised his hands.

_Careful now...You have a very powerful mage in front of you who can control the plants which were now rooted all around your bedroom. Priceless._

'Zyra, I'll explain everything, but you have to, I repeat HAVE TO believe everything I say, I will not lie, but I will sound completely alien to you.'

Zyra narrowed her eyes, and with the movement of her eyes, the roots around her started to move again.

_It seems like they are mentally connected, like Irelia and her blades. _

However, she seemed more determined to understand where she was than to kill her potential informant. Slowly, she nodded and motioned him to do whatever he was planning to show her.

Hayden tried to keep himself under control while he turned around. He made a gesture with his hands.

'Follow me.'

It sounded like Zyra retracted her roots when she moved in his trail and indeed, when he glanced over his shoulder at her she was back like she was on the Rift, with only the thorns starting from her shoulders to her hands.

They descended the stairs, and entered his modest living room, where his laptop was still filling the room with the crackling noise.

'What is that?'

Behind him, Zyra pointed a sharp-edged finger to the destroyed laptop.

_How will I for heavens sake explain this all?_

'It's part of the things I want to show you. So you'll hopefully understand what situation you're-we're in. From one of his closets, he took an older laptop, which was now used as data storage for music, movies etc. However, he used to play League of Legends on it, therefor it should be able to show her what it was all about. While he let the game load, he turned to her.

'Come sit here. -_Why did I say that -_Or stand behind me, if you don't like that.'

Unexpectedly, she sat down beside him. Although Hayden carefully avoided her thorns, he still had to say she looked utterly amazing below that coverage of vines and thorns. From this angle he could perfectly see the curve of her leaf-covered breasts... _Focus._ He felt the warmth of her body, which seemed so strange to him, since she always had been a plant, and while he knew she was human now, it still was an odd feeling. He took a deep breath in and tried to pick his next words very carefully.

'Zyra, you're no longer on Runeterra. You're on a different plane of existence, on a planet called Earth. That's why that -he pointed at the laptop- seems so strange to you, because it just doesn't exist in your world. Am I right?'

Her yellow eyes glowed brightly this time, she was trying to soak up all the information. She nodded.

'Go on.'

On the inside, he was utterly surprised. How could she just accept it like that?

_Or maybe she thinks I'm still fooling her. Which could turn out really bad... Speaking about that, why hasn't she turned me into shreds already? _

Her lore didn't quite show her as the most modest and friendly person on Runeterra. But here she was, casually sitting down next to him. He halted his train of thoughts and continued on. The game had finished loading, so he could move on to the most painful and akward part of the explanation. He moved on to the Custom Game mode and started a Summoner's Rift game. Zyra curiously looked over his shoulder at the screen. However, when he entered Champion Select, he just stared dumbfounded at the screen. There was not a single Champion to select. Not even the free Champions of the week were there. Like there has never been a mode where you could select Champions. Like there never had been a League Of Legends.  
>He tried it again, kept talking to himself it was a bug, while the last 'bug' turned out in a real-life Champion called Zyra to enter his home. But to no avail.<p>

_Wait a second...So that thunderstorm, the screens that all went black...Could that mean that every champ in the game was now free and roaming the earth? But that was..impossible. They were freaking video game characters for fucks sake!_

'What do you want to show me?' said Zyra impatiently. Desperate, he turned to recordings of older games. The first one he found with Zyra in it was immediately clicked and started playing. Done, he turned the laptop a bit more to her so she could see it all better.

'But that-that's me?'

Now it was Zyra's turn to stare dumbfounded at the screen, at her own image.

'Indeed. And that's what I'm coming to. That's you, back on Runeterra, loading in for a match.'

She shot him a glare and he just raised his hands.

'Don't believe me? I told you I wouldn't lie. Just watch.'

A few seconds later the group entered the Rift. He watched Zyra's eyes grow big while the announcer boomed 'Welcome to Summoner's Rift!'

'That's indeed me, that's me fighting on the Rift! But how do you get these images?'

Hayden sighed.

'While you, the Champions, are summoned and fight, it's us humans which control you as makeshift Summoners, from behind our computers and laptops.'

He gestured at the screen of his crashed laptop and the screen of the laptop which was now showing the match.

'Which means you somehow transferred from the world of Runeterra to this one, and ended up here, where the actual 'Summoners' live.'

Zyra just stared at him, disbelieve in her bright eyes. Even the normal slowly moving thorns now hung motionless next to her arms.

'And what's more, I believe it's not just you. That screen back there, when I tried to start up a game, it should show champions that I could choose to play. And there were none. Which is usually impossible. And since you are here, and your icon disappeared, the fact that all the others disappeared too can't be anything else than the fact that they also have been transferred to this world.' he ended his speech.  
>Zyra just fell back on the couch they were sitting on, unable to properly contain herself. Suddenly she growled and got back up again, her thorny roots swinging back into action. Her gaze fell on his, and she had a deadly look. He felt an outburst incoming...She growled once more.<p>

'This can't be true!' she hissed.

She lashed at the poor little laptop, which I could just get my grip on before it would shatter on the ground. Once more he felt the thorns entangle him, and she drew her face close to his. One crazy moment he thought she was gonna kiss him _-what the fuck brain? Why do you get these thoughts in a situation like this?_- but then she summoned her two thorny vines next to him. In a low, silent hissing she told him;

'I told you not to lie to me. What you say just can't-CAN'T BE TRUE!' she screamed suddenly, while she lashed her thorns at him. He felt the flesh of his cheeks slashed, after which he passed out.

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><p>'Aunt, I think he's coming to!' he heard a little girl's voice calling out. This was quickly followed by the hurried footsteps of someone approaching. Hayden slowly opened his eyes and saw Lily, the neighbour's ten year old daughter, and apparently her aunt, an elder woman, eying him with care.<p>

'What happened, boy? We could hear the screams all the way up to our house. You were out for a complete day. And it looks like someone wrecked this place.'

He rose up and started looking around. It was true, along with his still greenish tinted laptop screen he saw lashes and slashes all around the room and on the door. The window was broken, and the door hung loose on its hinges, full of slashes and torn away wood. How..? But then he felt the warm crackling of something on his left cheek. When he swiped it away, the crust of a bloodstream down his face came along.

_Have I been out for an entire day?_

Mentally numb, he felt his cheek a bit higher, and quickly retracted his hand when he touched the still fresh slashing wound. He came back to his senses, and felt the wound stinging like hell. Slowly, his memories returned, and in a flash...

'Zyra!'

-'Who, sweetheart?' asked the old woman, looking at him with a puzzled look. He searched for the mirror, which was also decorated with a huge crack, but he could still make out his figure. On his left cheek was a deep slash, with the flesh having a tint of purple. _Poisoned._ Is that why he passed out so quickly? Or was he just a pussy?_ Damnit brain, again. _He looked at his reflection once more. _That's gonna be one hell of a scar..._ What amazed him the most was the fact that he was still alive. Wouldn't she rip him into pieces if he lied? Did she somehow believe him, somewhere deep inside? Or did something else stop her? Did he perhaps reach her...feelings? _Oohhh, classy._

_Zyra...where are you?_

His first thought was to search for Zyra, but then he halted himself. The Rise of the Thorns was more than able to take care of herself, wasn't she? But then again...She was more or less something that would've ran out of a sci-fi movie. A stunningly beautiful woman, but corrupted and vengeful, not caring to strike down anyone who crossed her path. Suddenly he gasped. She would be a danger to any citizens that crossed her path! She was strong, but she couldn't win against an army fully equipped with modern technology. He had to search for her, stop her, try to convince her, but she was so...venomously dangerous. Would she believe him? He had not a single bit of certainty that she wouldn't kill him this time. He rubbed his temples, teared apart by the dilemma. He...he had to try it. Somehow he felt guilty. Because he summoned Zyra last night, she ended up here, in a world where she would be an outcast, doomed to be hunted down and killed.

He rose up with a determined look on his face. It was decided. Hayden was going to find her, try to convince her, and then...what would he do with a woman with plant-like features? Should he try to let her live here or something? The idea seemed so unrealistic that he almost started laughing. He shook his head. _Concerns for later._ He was about to exit the room when he felt a tug at his side. Looking down, he looked into the blue eyes of Lily. Surprised, he smiled.

'What is it, Lily?'

-'Where are you going, Hay?' asked the girl immediately.

'To find someone to solve all these problems. He spread out his hands, pointing at the ravage around him.

'Are you going to see the lady that gave you that scar?' she asked with wit. Hayden's eyes grew big at her sharp remark.

'Why do you think there's a lady I'll search for?

-'Auntie and me could hear the scream. It was the scream of a lady. And she sounded like an angry lady.'

She pointed at his wound and the ravage.

'She's right, dear. And on top of that, those wounds seems severely poisoned. You should get them treated as soon as possible.'

With the wound mentioned he softly touched it again, causing another jolt of pain. _Wait. Didn't she say '"wounds"?_ He looked down at his body, and saw slashes everywhere, from his legs to his arms and his chest., all with the same purple-ish hue. _Shit. _For a moment, he was in doubt, but then he said resolutely;

'I'm going to search for her, because she's the only one who can cure this poisoning.'

And with that said he walked out of the room. _Wait a second..._ He realized he was being extremely rude. Turning around, he faced the two of them again and said;

'Thank you for taking care of me, I couldn't have wished for better neighbours.'

Lily smiled and stuck her thumb up in the air. Her aunt just nodded.

'You're welcome, dear. Just come by sometime to show you're healthy, otherwise you'll keep me worried.'

Hayden nodded and left. In his wake, the girl turned to her aunt.

'Does he like her, auntie?'

The older woman laughed and patted her on the head.

'Perhaps, Lily.'

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><p><strong>There we go, chapter one n.n<strong>


	2. The Vines Unfold

**Same things here again, I hope you enjoy, rate and comment if you feel like it n.n**

**Riot owns everything that is not OC, and so on and so on...**

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><p><strong>The Vines Unfold<strong>

Hayden passed the kitchen and picked up his car keys. He let them roll through his fingers, lost in thought. Why? Why did he care so much for her that he'll probably end up dead searching for her? _Sigh..._ He walked to the garage, got into his car and drove away. The moment he drove down the street he forcefully stopped the car, realizing how lacking his plan was. Why did he drive to the city , while he was searching for a plant?_ The mental facepalm was real. _Where would he find an ancient plant? In the forest of course. He turned around, driving off to the closest forest.

As soon as he entered the woods, he knew his assumption was right. Ten meters inwards, he already felt the atmosphere of dread and poison. The deeper part of the forest was covered in thorns and thick vines, winding themselves around the trees and scattered on the floor. All the sounds from outside the forest were shut out, and in the glooming dusk every little sound sent a shiver down his spine. He halted, knowing he now ventured deep enough into her territory.

'Zyra...' he whispered, and even his whispers sounded like a megaphone throughout the silence.

'Zyra, I know you can hear me. This is urgent. If you go on like this, they will hunt you down and kill you. I want to help you, now stop being so stubborn and at least listen to me!'

He was surprised he said that with such confidence, and stroked his wound absentmindedly. For a while, there was no response, but then he heard her voice, seemingly whispering from everywhere around him.

'You've made a huge mistake coming here, Hayden. I spared your life because you tried to explain me the situation I'm in with your petty excuses. But now there's nothing that guarantees your safety...'

Her slightly unnatural voice made him shudder, here alone and surrounded in the dark. Then he saw her elegant figure emerging from the darkness.

'What do you want?'

He could see her eyes glister in the darkness, but her face was still shrouded in the shade of the forest.

'I want to help you! I didn't lie yesterday! Haven't you noticed how much this world differs from Runeterra?'  
>This time, she emerged from the shadows. He couldn't resist to slightly gaze at her curvy...body features, but rapidly looked up at her face. Her eyebrows were furrowed in thought. The roots slithered around her like snakes, but didn't entangle him like yesterday...yet.<p>

'Give me some proof.' she said finally. It seems like she was rather the calculated, intelligent one. Thankfully for him.

'Name something you encounter everyday in Runeterra.' he asked. In response to this she seemed to drift off again, lost in thought. Maybe she was like this because of her former life as a plant, when she could not do more but sitting there, rooted in place, with nothing much to do but thinking.

'Magic.'

The sudden sound of her voice made him jump a bit in surprise after the complete silence of the forest. After that, he quickly regained his senses, and started;

'Good, that's an easy one. You're a powerful mage yourself _-smooth, some buttering up to keep her friendly-_ , have you even felt the slightest of magical aura anywhere near here?'

To this she pouted, knowing she was wrong. This was so strange to see on her, but somewhere it was very cute.

'No, but-'

-'Have you seen any trace of Hextech-technology around here?'

'Neither do I have seen that, but how-'

-'This is the last one. I know for a part that every Champ has an emergency set of runes with him or her to immediately return to the Institute of War. Do you still have yours?'

In response, Zyra lifted her right hand in the air and opened her hand, her slender fingers stretched out. A blue aura emerged, and a set of a cool-blue toned runes appeared in her hand.

'This will be practical proof. If you still don't believe me, try to return to the Institute.'

She glared at him one more time, and started. Her whole body started to glow, while runes appeared and melted themselves into the ground one by one. With every rune that rooted itself in the ground, the aura around her grew brighter and expanded. This was so exciting! He was watching a real-life recall in front of him! But when the last rune melted into the ground, nothing happened. A moment everything around Zyra froze, but then the aura disappeared, and the runes lifted themselves back into her hand, fading away into their hiding place again. She just stood there now, with a shocked expression on her face, still trying to comprehend that the runes floated back to her hand and that she wasn't teleported back to the Institute of War.

'...See?' Hayden said.

She took a deep breath, causing her chest to rise, accenting her barely covered breasts even more. He had to keep himself from staring, because that could mean his death.

'Do you believe me now?'

Once more, Hayden was shocked how he found that confidence to say it so bluntly in her face, and Zyra noticed that. While her yellow eyes narrowed, she drew closer. He could feel the thorny vines around him crawl again. When she was just inches away from him, she started to talk.

'Good...I maybe believe you. But what does it matter? Here, I can spread my influence as well...soon, this area will be covered in the sprawl of my plants!'

After she said that, she grinned, showing her sharp teeth. Hayden grew worried. How could he get it through the stubborn skull of this woman that they would just kill her while not being killed himself? He took a deep breath.

'Zyra, this world isn't like Runeterra!' he began.

She glared at him venomously.

'They won't accept you here like the League did. They will bring armies to hunt you down and destroy you!'

-'I can strike down armies with the gestures of my hands, child. What should I be afraid of?'

He could hear a slight growl in her voice, she grew annoyed. The roots started to wrap themselves around him again. But then he heard a distinctive sound, like the heavy, deep humming of a giant insect. A helicopter. Zyra looked up, annoyed.

'What the hell is that noise?'

Now, they could feel the gusts of wind while the helicopter flew right above them. He saw Zyra looking very curiously at the helicopter, with its rotor blades swinging around, letting the vehicle hover above them.

'That, Zyra, is a helicopter. They are already investigating the wild growth you created,and-'

Zyra didn't pay much attention to his words, lifted her hand upwards and said;

'Bloom, my child...'

Hayden immediately knew what she was about to do.

'Zyra, NO!' _Stupid, stubborn bitch._

But it was too late. A massive vine erupted from the forest and entangled the poor helicopter. While crushing it, the thorned branch dragged it down into the forest, where it exploded. Even from a distance they could smell the burning wood and benzine.

'Fire...' Zyra hissed .

'Zyra, what have you done! That was just one helicopter, but now they will send many more! They will send armored forces, soldiers, everything to bring you down!'

-'Silence.'

She turned back to him.

'I don't care about a single thing they will send in attempt to stop me. I will wipe them all away.'

Right now, her yellow eyes burned with anger. The spiking plants now locked him in their grip.

'Once more, you came to meddle with me, while you should've known you were digging your own grave like that.' she hissed dangerously. She was now so close that he could feel her breath against his body. It smelled fresh and vivid, like the nature, like blooming flowers and the lush air. She stroked his cheek with her hand, surprisingly soft. The slight touch of her nails on his skin sent an odd sensation down his spine. While he stood there, frozen, she whispered ,with her mouth just centimeters from his;

'Such a shame...you're actually so good looking...'

For a moment, he meant to see a glint of sadness in her eyes. But it disappeared as soon as he saw it. Zyra looked at him, still playfully caressing him. Not that he didn't enjoy that part. _Brain. Stop._ When her gaze shifted a bit, she noticed the wound on his cheek.

'Oh?'

Her eyes wandered over his body, examining all the slashes she made earlier. She narrowed her eyes and smiled with menace.

'Perfect. I'm just gonna sit here and watch you die through the poison in your veins, dear.'

After those words he saw that she meant the 'sitting' part literally. Zyra commanded the roots and vines around her to form a twisted chair. While she sat down, she summoned a root from the ground, one with a pulsating, red tip, like the one she threatened him with the first time, in his room. She seemed to play with it, letting it twist and turn, with a thoughtful expression on her face.

'You know, I find you quite interesting, boy. Even though you faced a woman covered in thorny roots and leaves, entangling you, you remained calm and explained everything to me. Or tried. You even asked me whether I'd like to sit next to you, like we were...acquaintances.'

His cheeks turned a slight red at the memory. Such mature, wow. _Shut up, brain._

'Naturally, I did, to see your reaction. And I was surprised to find a curious, even excited aura emerging from you.' _Can she read my emotions? I'm so fucked._

Now, she let the root bury itself into the ground again, after which a plant emerged. In mere seconds, the plant already bloomed, now showing a beautiful rose, coloured in a deep red, like the shade of blood. She raised the branch again, letting it twirl around her back. She followed it with her eyes, fixing her gaze on the rose. The flower now rested in the air next to her left shoulder. While she caressed it, she continued;

'I attacked you, left you for dead and exited what was left of your pitiful house and life. And yet, here you are again. Despite the poison, despite what I told you, what I did to you, you tracked me and confronted me again, tried to reason with me. I admire your courage, to stand up against something like me...'

Her eyes slid from the rose back to him. Once again he was captured in her yellow gaze, which was now filled with curiosity.

'What drives you, Hayden? What is it that makes you having such interest in my well-being?'

Ending her words, she leaned back, covering her face in the shadows once more. With only her bright eyes visible now, she turned silent.

Hayden didn't know what to say in response. He didn't even know why he actually did this, how he felt. How he felt about her..._Brain. Last warning. _And on top off this all, he felt himself growing weaker and weaker. The poison was finally kicking in.

He now hung there quite a while already, and although he wasn't feeling that good _-the understatements though- _he was still able to think straight and move. The sense of time was already gone, though, so he didn't know if he was hanging here for mere minutes or hours. Still, he had expected the poison to eat him away a long time ago already. And apparently, Zyra was thinking the same.

'You're stronger that I expected. I've know stronger men who gave in a lot earlier. Which just gives me more information to ponder about...'

He glared at the yellow orbs peering through the darkness. Fuck it, if he was about to die, then he'd do at least something, even if it was just trying to torment his killer. _That's the way brain. You rock. _

'Speaking of which, your forest is also stronger than I expected. Don't you have fire to extinguish?'

Hidden in the shadows, Zyra raised an eyebrow. That helicopter that crashed? Did he really think such a petty fire could damage her? Maybe he was getting numb already, opposite of her assumption a moment ago.

'What are you talking about, kid?'

Before the echo of her voice was done resonating, they heard the characteristic sound of helicopters again.  
>'Those things once more? They remind me of you, not giving in. Pity for them...'<p>

And there grew her vines, erupting from the corrupted forest, ready to lash out at the squadron of helicopters. One of them shot forward, aiming at the first helicopter, but before it could reach the vehicle, a sudden burst of flames erupted from the sides of the unit, setting the branch ablaze. Zyra gritted her teeth at the sight of one of her children, engulfed in flames.

'I'm talking about that, Zyra.'

She turned at him again, to see a satisfied grin on his face. No more mercy for her this time, he thought. _Amaze, i'm not pussying out. _Still, it was a gamble, cause she could just kill him anytime. _Fuck it._

'This is what I was talking about the entire time, Zyra! But noooo, you wouldn't listen! Now you're here, soon driven in a corner by the forces I was talking about! You're strong, but their superior technology and numbers will force you to surrender and-or be killed!'

He sighed a bit, taken aback by the deadly look on her face. This time, a lot softer;

'Now, you still have a chance. Don't fight, retreat, and just disappear until there is a solution for this mess.'

She emerged from the cloak of darkness that engulfed her. Giving him another deadly stare, she stood right in front of him now.

'If you think I'm the kind of person that just flees because there are some mutated bees that can spit fire, you're wrong, kid.'

She turned around and started to walk into the forest, her figure slowly fading away.

'And that will probably your last thought...' whispered the forest around her with the voice of Zyra.

_God, why was she like this? Why couldn't Ashe or Nami appear in my room, someone who could LISTEN! _To no avail, he tried to struggle his way out of his barbed cage. He had to try it now, before the poison would consume him. But the roots were too strong.

'JUST LISTEN TO ME, BITCH!' he screamed, totally overacting because of the adrenaline.

A soft chuckle seemed to drift through the vines and growth around him.

'Oh, I'm listening... I wouldn't want to miss such a strange, caring kid dying...' echoed her voice, carried through the trees. He sighed again, deep this time. It was a gamble, and he lost anyway. Let the crying before untimely death begin. _Shut up, brain, please_.

In the distance, the faint cries of people could be heard, barely noticeable above the roaring crashes of wood on steel and the loud sounds of burning plants.  
>He closed his eyes, focusing on the sound, since he had nothing left to do.<p>

And so, he hung there, not noticing the time, just listening. In between the heavy thumps of the vines and roots, he heard something else. Something else accompanied the screaming voices. Mechanic, fast sounds of little metal objects. Where had he heard that before? Why was his brain so slow? _Because you are a retard, brain._ Hayden shook his furiously, trying to get his mind working again.

Bullets.

In an instant, his head was clear again. That meant they involved the special forces already. How long could Zyra hold out, even with her strength? He started to struggle again, fuck this situation! He placed his feet on the roots that kept his legs in their place, and tried to push his legs out of their grip. The only outcome was him losing some more energy and some more scratches on his legs because of the thorns. New fury rushed through his veins.

'Zyra, come back!' he yelled again. But this time, his voice just slightly echoed out, and was replaced by silence. There was no whispering in the trees, no resonating laughter. He clenched his jaw. Was she mocking him now?

'Zyra! Just-'

He was halted because of the sudden movement of the roots holding him. They loosened their grip and retracted back into the ground. He fell on the ground with a soft thud, completely taken aback. Had she released him? Confused, he looked around, searching for a way through the thorns. But all the roots and vines that surrounded him seemed to have lost their strength, now hanging limp around the trees. _They are mentally connected...does that mean they lose their strength when their mistress does?_ His eyes widened, and as quick as his body allowed him to, he started to run in the direction Zyra disappeared minutes ago. _Or longer? He should really buy a watch, this poison was messing with his head._ His vision began to blur every now and then, and his knees trembled when that happened. He grabbed the branch of a tree to steady himself after another wave of dizziness. It was simple, he just had to follow the sound throughout the labyrinth of vegetation.

In the distance, he could already see the large stems towering over the helicopters and ground forces. Involuntary, he ducked and tried to sneak closer as silent as possible.

Coming closer, he saw the destruction the plants of Zyra made. Uprooted trees scattered here and there, whole patches of ground lashed up, barks of remaining trees full of scars, both from the weapons of the troops as from Zyra's plants. But if the roots in the forest lost their power, why did these vines still have them? And where was Zyra herself?

He crept more close in the proximity of the battle, and noticed the huge plants were protecting a single area. It seemed all the other plants had just died, that or were engulfed by the fire. Curious what that meant, he sped up his pace. Out of the blue, he stumbled over something. Looking beneath him, he saw the corpse of a soldier. His stomach turned as he looked at the body. Over his chest, there was a huge, gaping wound, like the slash on Hayden's cheek, but so deep he could see the intestines and the broken ribs, all imbued in the same, purple colour of severely poisoned flesh. On the face of the man, he could still see the surprised look, he hadn't even had the chance to comprehend the pain and the fact he was dying before his life forces had left his body.

'Quite the opposite of what's happening to me...'

He gritted his teeth. Moving onwards, he saw the huge stems of the plants in front of him. The soldiers were on the other side, blocked by a wall of roots, thick, violent and poisonous. That should cover his advance on the circle of green. Getting closer and closer, taking tiny steps, he slowly approached the edge of the wall. He frowned. Why weren't the plants attacking him, while the soldiers fell by dozens? Very cautiously, he weaved his way in, carefully avoiding thorns or all edgy protrusions in common. Still wondering about the strange behavior of the plants, he stroked his arm against a thorn. With a muffled yelp of pain he quickly retracted his arm. A new wound appeared, and out of the thorn a purple liquid dripped. He gazed at his body, as if he suddenly understood the meaning of life.

_Had the plants let him in because he carried so much poison in him already?_

If laughing out loud wouldn't have meant a certain death, he would've done it. Much crazy thought, such mentally stable, wow. But then again, how many crazy things happened in the last twenty-four hours? It might just as well be true. He had worked his way through the wall, and came out in a clearing where it was strangely silent, the sounds from outside muffled by the thick walls of wood.

He waited until his eyes were adjusted to the dim light peeking through the maze of branches above his head. He got a wry feeling in his gut, telling him something wasn't right here. Continuing, he saw something glitter at his feet. A dark, red liquid reflected the little bit of sunlight in the area.

_Blood._

'Oh no. No, don't tell me-'

He peered in the dusky patch in front of him, and in line with his gut feeling, he saw a body lying there. Quickly, he hurried over to the limp figure. He didn't even need to think to know who it was. There, lying in a small, but expanding pool of blood, was Zyra. Her red hair was spread out underneath her, her legs cramped, but somewhat stretched out. Her left arm was still pressed against a nasty wound in her thigh, but her right arm just laid next to her, covered in blood, probably from a wound on the arm itself. Her normally brightly shining yellow eyes were now closed, and she was just mumbling soft whispers.

He didn't know what to do. Could she survive this? Could he survive this, if he helped her? He decided not to think, but act first. _For once we're thinking alike, brain. _

He was certain she was unconscious now, just muttering those words in her swoon, perhaps unconsciously still commanding the plants. Delicately, he placed his arms under her chest and knees, lifting her up in bride-style. This was the easiest way to carry someone, he mused. But then, he realized he couldn't carry her this way through the network of thorns that surrounded them. He sighed, lifting her very carefully over his shoulder, holding her in place with his one hand on her back, and another on her legs. Suddenly, he felt the roots around her arms extending en and wrapping themselves around him, strong but caressing, as if they also wanted her to be carried around safely. And like that, he started to walk out of the clearing, into the maze once more. Now, with her lifted on his shoulder, he could see a gaping wound in her back too. This one was probably the the reason she passed out, and she was still losing a lot of blood. Hayden bit his lip, wondering what to do. Remaining silent, he slowly placed her back on the ground.

'Ah, fuck it...'

He took off his T-shirt, which wasn't easy, since the roots were still strapped around him. But somehow, the roots gave in, as if they responded to his request. Now, he held his T-shirt in one hand and lifted Zyra's upper body with the other. He let the clothing slide under her, after which he placed Zyra back on the ground. Then, he took the edges of the shirt and wrapped them around her, tightly knotting the makeshift bandage. Hopefully that would hold back the stream of blood for a while. _Thank god the wound wasn't on chest height , otherwise he had to find a way to wrap it around her breasts..._ He grimaced awkwardly at the thought. _No more dawdling now!_ The longer he waited, the more the armed forces and the poisoning would advance. He lifted her, again oh so careful, and placed her on her shoulder like before. He started to walk in the opposite direction of the fighting, preparing himself for the difficult path through the wildgrowth Zyra had created. To his surprise, -but then again, what has been normal today?- the vines gave way, opening a path for him to walk on.

'Thank you...' he whispered. The echo of his voice seemed to carry on and on through the trees, as if the forest whispered back. And behind him, the roots and vines formed a thick wall again, blocking the path for anyone in his wake. Undisturbed, he reached the place where he had parked his car. _Wait a sec...I have my keys in the pocket on the side i'm carrying Zyra on..._ He gritted his teeth once more. Performing a little set of acrobatics, he was able to fish the keys out of his pocket. He opened his car and spread Zyra out over the back seat. After checking she wasn't still losing considerable amounts of blood, which thankfully wasn't the case, he sat down in the driver's seat. Was he allowed to drive in such a state of poisoning? _Not now, brain._ He shook the thought away and set off for home, although he drove very carefully. 

* * *

><p>When he arrived -<em>without accidents, cheers, Hayden<em>- he lifted Zyra from the back seat and carried her inside. Once he entered his home, he saw that Lily and her aunt had left. _Good, they better not see this. Especially Lily..._ Since his sofa was ruined, he decided to just carry her upstairs, to the bed she first appeared on. When he walked up the stairs, he clearly noticed the effect of the poison, and he had to steady himself repeatedly so he wouldn't fall. He got upstairs -at long last- and shoved the door to his bedroom open with his left foot. Inside, he slowly placed Zyra on the bed, which instantly got soaked in the blood that was still leaking from her wounds, dying the sheets in a deep shade of red. Noticing he was panting himself, he rushed downstairs, causing him to stumble into the living room, dizzy and coughing. He walked towards the desk, where his cellphone laid, next to his still buzzing computer. When he unlocked it, he saw a bunch of messages from Ellie. After a few seconds of doubt, he flipped the inbox away.

'Concerns for later...'

He navigated to "Contacts" and started calling the number of the neighbours. After a few seconds, the voice of a little child rang through the phone.

'Hello with Lily, with whom am I speaking?'

_Yes! They were still at home!_

-'Hey Lily, it's Hayden here. Is your aunt still there?  
><em>Please please please please...<em>

'Yeah sure! Do you want to talk to her?

_No, I just want to know if she's there for no reason at all._

'Yes please.'

He heard the girl move away from the phone and yelling at her aunt.

'Auntie! Hay on the phone!'

The sound of hurried footsteps followed up by the voice of the older woman were the response on the yell of the girl.

'Hayden! Dear, am I glad to hear you! Is everything alright?

-'Yeah, I'm good.'

He hesitated for a moment, partly due to the lie, partly due to thinking about what to say.

'Say Marga, you have a daughter who's a medic, right?'

-'Why yes of course, our daughter Suzie, but why?' she sounded confused.

'Is it possible for her to come over? As fast as possible, this is urgent.'

-'Well, she's has a week off now, so she's home. But if you require immediate medical service then why not just call the-'

'Because this has to stay private, and I know I can trust you.'

He knew he sounded dead serious now, and there was a moment of silence at the other end of the line.

-'Good. I'll call her and see when she can come over. I'll call you back, ok?'

'Yes, thank you very much.'

-'You sound exhausted dear, are you sure everything is alright?'

He sighed silently.

'Yeah, just in a rush.'

He could almost hear the woman frowning at the other end of the call.

-'Good, then I'll call her immediately. Be right back.'

And with those words, she ended the call.

Marga frowned indeed. Something was odd there. Hayden never sounded so...anxious and nervous. And it had sounded like he had run a marathon.

'What is it, Auntie?'

Lily looked at the elder, mimicking the concerned expression on her face.

'Something's wrong with Hayden, dear...but don't worry, we'll get it fixed.'

She smiled at her. Still, the eyes of the girl grew big in concern. And while Marga turned around to dial the number, she failed to see Lily sneaking out of the room.

Hayden fell limply onto the remains of the cough, with the cellphone clamped in his hand. Now the only thing left to do was wait.

Although he was so focused on it, the sound of the ringtone still scared the shit out of him, almost making him jump in surprise. Quickly, he answered the call.

'Yes?' he said, not bothering with identifying himself, knowing it was Marga calling.

-'She's on her way. Expect her in about fifteen minutes.'

A big part of the burden on his shoulders disappeared, and he sighed in relief. _Thank god..._

'Once more I'm in your debt, Marga. How can I ever repay you like this?'

-'By staying alive.' the woman suddenly said in a dead serious tone.

'Wha-'

-'You don't fool an old woman like me, Hayden. I've seen and heard enough to know there's something seriously wrong there. Maybe 'stay alive' was quite harsh, but try to keep yourself together, dear, you keep getting me worried.

He sighed so deep that it turned into coughing. Well, at least she deserves to know something, right?

'Thank you, I will.'

The call ended, and he sat down again.

'Stay alive...difficult when your body is a ticking time-bomb.' he muttered. He pushed himself up and walked towards the kitchen. _Maybe lessening the procentual amount of poison in my blood will slow it down._ He quickly gulped down three full glasses of water, realizing too late that would give him -suddenly his belly started to cramp- ..stomachache. Great start at keeping yourself together, Hayden. _Shut it, brain. _At least it cleared his head a bit. He decided to check on Zyra, since he had nothing much to do besides watching her.

_If she wakes up before we can treat her..._ He pushed down the handle of the door. _Or what if she was awake now already?_

But Zyra was still there, lying on the bed. She didn't move much, and had stopped whispering words. Whether this was a good or a bad sign, he didn't know.

* * *

><p><strong>And one more chapter of my hopefully not-so-crappy story ! Hope you enjoyed :D <strong>


	3. Final Hour and Rejuvenation

**And another chapter n.n I'll stop here now for the initial upload, better to wait and see the responses. Well, if you kept reading uptill here, still enjoy it!:D**

**And once more, Riot owns every character and/or content that is not OC-related.**

* * *

><p><strong>Final Hour and Rejuvenation<strong>

At long last, he heard the doorbell ring. He descended the stairs, meanwhile thinking about a way to approach this situation. His train of thought was halted when he reached the front door. With a moment of hesitation, he firmly opened the door. In front of him stood a attractive red-haired woman in her late twenties, with amber eyes and a bunch of cute freckles. She carried a huge backpack, probably containing a vast amount of medical instruments, potions and so on. Her eyes grew wide when she saw him, and a concerned look appeared on her face.

'Dude...what happened to you?'

He realized he was still walking around shirtless, neatly showing the vast amount of poisoned wounds and punctures of Zyra's plants.

-'Ehmm, this will take a very long time to explain. The real emergency is upstairs. Since the living room -he gestured at the ravage- isn't able for use, I used my bed to let her rest on.'

'Her? So it's a woman I have to treat? Don't tell me it's because of the fact she's a woman you don't have the courage for it.'

Even in this situation, she was slightly teasing him. _Hopefully her medical instruments don't only tease Zyra._ He halted in front of his bedroom. He gulped and turned around.

'Look, you have to promise me not to tell anyone about who you'll treat here. And also, please don't start to scream and run, you're my only hope...' he said, desperately. _Damn, I should've formulated that better... _Suzie now looked as if he told her he was about to reveal something very lugubrious, like a pile of bodies or something. He opened the door, gesturing her to enter. While eying him very suspiciously, she walked into the room. When she finally turned around and watched the scene in front of her, she froze in place.

'Wha-what is thi...' she stammered. Hayden quickly reacted and walked up to her. Him standing in front of her didn't quite help, seen the state he was in. From this angle, he could see the clear look of surprise and fear in her eyes.

'Listen, I -We don't have much time left. She's bleeding out, and I need your medical experience to keep her alive, so-'

-'Yes, I can see that.'

She seemed to have found the courage to speak up again pretty fast. Without wasting a breath, she continued:

'But who-or _**what **_in the world is she?'

Still taken aback, she approached Zyra's body. Gently, she brushed over the thorny vines on her arms.

'Those thorns are real. And her ears -she pointed at the petal-like ears- aren't human either, to say the least. In general, the only human thing she has is a clearly womanly figure.' she frowned.

'And what a figure...' she mumbled after it. Suzie looked at him once more, and seeing the desperate look in his eyes, she decided to let her professional attitude take over and just treat her like any other patient. She had taken out a medical kit from her backpack and put on some sterile gloves. Ready to start now, she began the operation. After dosing Zyra with an anesthetic to make sure she didn't wake up or made any unpredictable movement, she slowly unwrapped the T-shirt Hayden had bandaged her with.

'That's quite the shot wound. Smart of you to bandage it, even if it was just the T-shirt.'

From the medical kit, she took a scalpel. She halted for a moment and looked at him.

'You might not want to see this. I understand if you can't handle the sight of it, and you can wait outside if you want.

'No, I want to stay her with her, I have taken care for her the whole route to here, and now I want to be there to when she's treated.'

_Does he like her?_ _Even in his current condition, he firmly states he wants to be here at her side..._

Suzie eyed him again.

'You sure? I'd think it would be better for you to rest now. You look exhausted.'

Hayden now stubbornly shook his head.

'That-That doesn't matter anymore, anyway. I'd rather stay here for as long as possible.'

She nodded. Moving on, she took the scalpel and started.

'Could you lift her up a bit?'

He looked confused for a split second, but then lifted Zyra's body with utmost care. She shove a clean blanket underneath her, made sterile as well. She then moved on to the wound , cleaning it up and using an disinfectant to at least cover the surface of the wound. Then, Suzie covered the skin around the wound as well, and started the process of treating the shot wound.

Because of the cleaning, the wound was properly workable now, and with slicing through as little flesh tissue as possible she made an opening to safely take out the remainder of the shot. After taking a pair of tweezers, she carefully removed the bullet from the wound. The steel projectile was still dripping with blood, which was a good cause, the wound could still heal properly then.

'That was a nasty shot. I wonder why it didn't completely penetrate her? The bullet was strong enough for it.'

Hayden remained silent, not wanting to explain the kind of person she was treating here. He moved his view away from the messy wound she was working on, to the face of Zyra herself. It was strange to see her like this. So silent, so still, so...vulnerable. Her eyelids were still closed, the so intriguing yellow gaze absent. The red hair was saturated with dirt from the clash with the army, and here and there he could see little wounds from flying splinters of wood or gravel. She underestimated her enemy, refused to listen to him, left him for dead once more.

And yet he dragged her here, trying to save her life. Although he knew his final hours slowly ticked away, he had put all his effort and energy in saving her. _Why...tell me, brain._

The minutes seemed like hours while she was working, treating the wounds with masterful care. Or did the hours seem minutes, because he didn't want time to go so fast? He began to breath slower to save energy, not wanting to collapse when Suzie could see him. He felt the blurring of his vision return now he had nothing to do, and closed his eyes to focus out the dizziness. With his eyes only seeing darkness, he seemed to fall into limbo, all sounds and things fading away,all-

'I'm done.'

The sudden voice of Suzie pulled him out of his near-dead state. After a moment of confusion his vision straighted again. He looked at the bed and saw Zyra, now lying in a more relaxed state, probably moved by Suzie. Her abdomen and side were bandaged, and Suzie applied some bandages to her upper legs as well. He looked at Suzie and smiled brightly.

'Thank you so much, you don't know what this means to me. The fact you accepted the fact she looks like this, that you treated her...'

Suzie waved it away.

'It's okay, I was just surprised and scared at the first glance. But her life was in danger, and since you brought her here she means no harm...I assume. And then it's my duty as a medic to help. But now...'

She turned to him directly.

'I don't recognize the type of poisoning you have there, but I assume it's dangerous. Are you positive you have a cure and will survive? If not, my honour both as doctor as myself will force me to stay. Not to mention my mother will kill me...' she muttered behind it.

Now looking at him directly, her gaze was fierce and firm. He felt his chest clench in anxiousness.

'Yes, yes I have the cure, and I'm going to apply it, I just wanted to make sure she was safe first. You as doctor will probably understand that?'

Still looking at him, she sighed and nodded.

'I'll leave you to it then.'

Hayden waited until he heard the back door click, and then rushed downstairs. He grabbed a pen and some paper and rushed upstairs again. This outburst of energy drained much of what was still left, and he had to really focus his pen when he started writing.

_Zyra, you have to read this. _

He halted. Could she read English? Sure, Riot used English, but in this realm. From where she came, this way of writing might not exist! _Although, she spoke fluent English, even when she surprised me when I cautiously entered my room._ Ah, fuck it, he had to take the risk, there was nothing else left for him anyway.

_Zyra, you have to read this. I have carried you back here so I could get you treated. None of the attackers saw that I took you away from the fight, and the plants seemed to understand my plan and fought on like you weren't gone. _

His arm started to shake uncontrollably, and he had to refocus his vision every time he penned down a word.

_By the time you read this, I'll be dead, so please, listen to what I have to say._

_Take. Cover. There will be a time when you Champions will find each other again, and when that tim- _

He didn't have the chance to even finish his sentence, his consciousness finally gave in. Now completely overwhelmed from the poisoning, he fell down on the bed, next to Zyra, with the uncompleted letter still in his hand. 

* * *

><p>…<p>

…...

…...

Bright. Everything was bathing in a bright light. What...was this? Where was he? From the light, a shadow emerged. The figure leaned forward, over him.

'How are you feeling?' said an echoing voice uncomfortably. _Where have I heard that voice before..._ She -the voice was clearly female- shifted position. The light seemed to dim, and everything started to become clearer. He could now make out her curvy figure and her yellow, bright eyes, and noticed she was standing in front of a window. _Those eyes..._ After a moment of silence, he finally put one and one together.

'Z-Zyra?'

The woman shifted her focus from him to the outside, seemingly lost in thought. She remained silent. This gave him -more precisely his eyes- the time to adjust and he could now make out they were in a bedroom, **his **bedroom. Now, the yellow gaze in her eyes seemed to fade out to normal irises, although remaining yellow. His jaw almost dropped when he suddenly noticed she wasn't adorned in the usual leaves and flowers that covered her. She just wore a white T-shirt and blue jeans, her roots, leaves, thorns and flowers completely absent. She had a fully human face now, with here petal-like ears transformed to real human ears, and the yellow irises he noticed earlier were indeed human now, and not the bright, almost luminescent eyes she normally had. Her arms were blank, void of the thorns that normally curled around them. Her feet were no longer high-heeled, dark green, but just flat, human feet. Yet, there were still stripes of green in her hair, seemingly as a reminder to the leaves which they replaced. He didn't know how long he was staring at her, but he couldn't help it, it was so strange to see.

'So...cute.'

_Did he just say that out loud? _Apparently, Zyra didn't hear it, or didn't take notice of it.

'I read your letter.' she said suddenly, still looking outside.

'I awoke just in time to save you. Five minutes later or so and you would be dead.'

Once more, she shifted position in discomfort, suppressing a squeal of pain because of the still healing wound on her back.

'...I assume the same happened with me?' she said, while she turned her head at him again, gesturing at her bandages underneath her T-shirt. He saw that even her eyes faded to a normal, yet bright blue now.

-'Yes, I'm afraid...'

His words left Zyra searching for something to say, and her eyes darted around uncomfortably.

'Thank you...' she muttered barely audible. Hayden couldn't even understand what she said.

-'Did you say something?' he genuinely asked.

'I-I said thank you. For what you have done.'

She twirled a strand of red hair around her finger absentmindedly.

'I wrecked you and your home, poisoned you and left you for dead twice. And yet, you were there to save me...thank you.' she ended, looking down with a faint blush on her cheeks.

'Well, I don't know, I just felt I had to-' he started awkwardly. But then the other part of the sentence hit his mind.

'Right, the poisoning! How did you-'

-'Please, Hayden, I was the one who poisoned you. If anyone would know the cure, it would be me.' she said sarcastically.

'However...'

Her tone turned dead serious now.

'Because you were hovering on the brink of death, I had to use a large amount of magic to pull you through. I'm not sure, but it probably will have affected you in a way. How, I do not know. Time will tell.'

Hayden was still processing this when a question arose.

'Why are you still here? I expected a lot of things, but not this.'

Her eyes flickered downwards for a second before she stared out of the window again.

'I read your letter.' she said simply.

'"Hide."

I thought about it, and found nothing. Because of what I am, I can't go anywhere, and if I return to the forests, it will just corrupt me again.'

A flickering of bright yellow reappeared in her eyes, but quickly dimmed out.

'So I decided to stay here, firstly to treat you properly, and secondly to ask you something.'

He nodded and gestured her to go on.

'I... have nowhere to go. This is the closest thing to something I could call home now. And I-I hope you allow me to. I treated your intoxication, but I understand it doesn't weigh up against all the other things I've done to you the past days. And then when you just wanted to save me...'

A small,guilty smile crept over her face. He felt a lot of mixed emotions when she said that, and it took him a while to respond.

'Well, ehm, I guess you can stay here, as long as you don't wreck me or anything-or anyone! _Am i really letting her in now..._ But I'm so glad you finally came to reason!'

He smiled at her. She returned the smile, guilt still in her eyes.

_Am i really letting her stay here? What's wrong with me?_

But somehow, it felt save,...good. Suddenly, the door slowly opened. Both Zyra and him turned their heads towards the sound. And there, in the doorway, stood little Lily. Slowly, she stepped inside and looked at him.

'Are you feeling a bit better, Hay?' she said, a bit of worry resonating in her voice.

'Well, ehm, yes, but-' he stammered, while his mind was trying to comprehend why the girl wasn't scared by Zyra's presence in the room. Then again, she had a fully human form now, and maybe she had only seen her like this.

'He's feeling a lot better now, but he's still a bit slow, he only regained his consciousness mere minutes ago.'

The girl nodded, although he now noticed she was still nervous with Zyra in the room. The woman noticed this and said;

'She was apparently wanting to enter a long time ago already, sneaking around the house, from when you came back out of the forest. She caught a glimpse of you in the living room and got scared by how awful you looked back then, almost dead. I guess she was too scared to come to look again, but eventually her curiosity got the best of her and she entered the room right when I was done treating you. I must say she is the strangest girl I've met so far, save from Annie.'

-'Who's Annie?'

'Before you start asking questions, yes, I wasn't transformed yet back then. She didn't seem to mind that there was a woman who half and half resembles a plant in the room. She just stood there, and asked me if you were alright after a while.' Zyra just talked through Lily's question.

'I saw how you looked at Hayden with such care and I knew you weren't mean.' the girl responded, smiling. The comment made Zyra look away with burning cheeks.

Look at that, she has a good side. _This is one of those times I agree with you, brain._

* * *

><p><em>Unconscious<em>

_Zyra watched carefully as the last strands of magic were sucked up by the now bright purple scar.  
>'I hope that will be enough. A larger amount and his body won't be able to take it...' she muttered.<br>She looked at him, lying there, limp and helpless. She felt a strange feeling take hold of her heart, and how hard she wanted to deny it, she found comfort in taking care of him. A sudden crack of the door opening made her swirl around with a dangerous look on her face, but when she saw who stood in front of her, she almost started to laugh. There, with a nervous look on her face, stood a little girl. She eyed Zyra with big eyes, probably not able to understand something like her existed. Then, she just turned to Hayden, and looked at him with a worried expression. Zyra remained silent, deciding it would be for the best if she let the girl act first. _

_'...Is he gonna be alright?' she asked, without a hint of fear, just worrying. Zyra stared at her dumbfounded. Not even a 'Who are you' or better, 'What are you?' She shrugged it off, glad it ended like this, and now eyed him too, with a soft look. _

_'Yes..yes, he'll be alright.'_

* * *

><p>'And that's more or less how it went' Zyra mused. He grinned, it was quite funny to hear Zyra tell something that happened, as if it was so casual. However, Lily looked at her.<p>

_Now we're going to get it..._

'...Are you the mean lady that gave him that scar?' she said, pointing at the slash. He could see Zyra felt another wave of guilt.

'Yes...I did that.'

-'So were you that angry lady that also destroyed the other room.'

Zyra bit her lip by the spot-on questions of this kid.

'Yes, I'm afraid that also was me...'

The girl eyed her for a bit.

'You seem nice to Hayden now. Aren't you angry anymore?'

-'No, not really, I mean, I-'

'Why?'

-'You-you wouldn't understand.'

Now the girl pouted and crossed her arms.

'Are these those 'adult feelings for each other'?'

-'No, it's more than that, I- I mean no! It's not like that!' Zyra exclaimed, realizing what she had said just now. Hayden smiled at her embarrassment, but said nothing, curious how it would turn out. It seems Lily also had noticed it, and a devilish grin now appeared on her face, but she kept silent about it. Instead, she continued to look at her.

'Are you a sorceress?' she said finally. Hayden was confused.

_She saw that Zyra was transformed from the half-plant she was to this human form and still asked it?Not to mention the looks of the original form as well. _

'Yes, I am. I am an old, mean witch.'

Zyra smiled at the truth behind those words.

'I don't believe you, you're not a mean witch.'

Zyra walked over to the girl, who visibly tensed up, and bent towards her.

'Oh no?' she said, while her teeth sharpened and her eyes glowed in a bright yellow again, with a faint trace of vegetation returning to her face. The girl was about to back away, but then firmly stood her ground. Arms still crossed, she said;

'No!'

Zyra let her real features fade away again and looked at the girl in disbelief.

'You're unbelievable.' she smiled.

Hayden laughed internally at the two bickering.

_Strange to see Zyra so...social._

'Actually, Zyra, how come you're like this now?'

-'You mean like, my 'fully human' form?' she said, going with her hands over her body to show what she meant. _Actually, also the fact that you're so friendly now, but whatever. _He nodded. Zyra crossed her arms in thought.

'Well, it came to mind when I was treating you. Somehow, I think that all that pondering about hiding and the feelings I experienced when treating you-'

She suddenly halted, her cheeks rosing again, realizing what she had said.

'F-Forget what I said!' she hastily said. He smiled once more at her embarrassment.

'Well, anyway, I was thinking about how to hide myself, and I came up with this very simple solution. I already changed my form into a human body once, now I just took it a step further and changed myself visually completely human, too. It does seem to suppress some of my powers, though.'

-'I would consider that a good case.' said Hayden with a hint of seriousness. To this, Zyra looked down with faint, sad smile.

'Say, something else! How long 'till I get out of this bed? I can't seem to stand up quite yet.' he said in a sad tone. Zyra rose from her leaning position against the window and closed the curtains. With the light gone, he suddenly noticed a wave of sleepiness rolling over his body. While walking out of the room, she said;

'I don't quite know that. Depends on how strong your body is. You better rest now.'

In the doorway, she halted. She made a movement as if she wanted to turn around, but stopped it.

'Goodnight.' she said curtly, but still soft. And with that in mind, he drifted off, back to the land of dreamscapes.

* * *

><p><strong>If you enjoy it, please rate and comment n.n if you didn't and still read it, please comment or message what I did wrong, so I can learn :D <strong>


	4. True Colours

**Here you go, a new chapter!:D Thanks for anyone that follows, fav's or just reads my story, and for you guys, I hope you'll enjoy this one too n.n  
><strong>

**Riot owns all the Champions or mentioned things belonging to LoL, etc. etc.**

* * *

><p><strong>True Colours<strong>

And so his life with Zyra residing in his home started.

_If this ends well I'm gonna donate all my money to charity or something... _

The following morning, Lily proudly presented him a breakfast she partly made herself. On the plate were two pairs of sliced bread, smeared with chocolate. The other part, Martha's, was a savory omelet with things ranging from tomatoes to pieces of ham. He even meant to see traces of Lily's old 'other part', thick, burned pieces of egg. Thank god Martha noticed it... After the breakfast, he felt that he really had a lot more energy than yesterday. He tried to get up, but just stumbled out of bed. Lily entered the room, alarmed by the noise, and saw him rubbing my head, sitting on the ground.

'Everything okay?'

-'Yeah, I just tried to...move.'

'Zyra already said you'd try that. She said "let him try, so he'll know he can't just yet.". She said that-'

-'You should wait some more hours, probably.'

Zyra suddenly appeared behind her, which made her jump in surprise, and finished the sentence.

'But I'm fully awake now!' he protested.

-'That may be the case, but unless I would have the urge to carry you around everywhere like a baby for the next few hours, you just stay there.' she said stern. Sighing, he crawled back in bed.

* * *

><p>And as Zyra predicted, a few hours passed until Hayden could clearly feel he was able to stand up straight. The first thing he did was walking up to the bathroom, to take a look at himself. His jaw dropped when he saw his face in the mirror. Sure, he had expected a scar or something, but... The scar that horizontally ran over his cheek was still purple, instead of normal scar tissue. It seemed like the poison wasn't treated, but just had worsened. The purple colour now was brighter than it was before, which made it even more suspicious. He touched it with his fingertips, and much to his surprise, it was cold on touch. <em>Cold?<em> Quickly, he examined the rest of his body. All the other wounds were just like normal wounds, and also healing like normal ones. Once more, he ran his fingers over the wound, astonished by the look and the cold touch.

'That's what I mean.'

He jumped in surprise by the voice of Zyra, who now stood leaning against the door post. He figured he must've been captured by the sight of the wound, since he didn't hear her walking to the bathroom.

'Zyra, no offense, but what if I was dressing myself and not examining my wound when you entered?'

Zyra shrugged.

'Then I just would've turned around. Your point?'

Hayden shook his head in defeat, deciding to keep silent. She went on;

'That scar has magic imbued in it, I can feel it. It's probably because I needed a very large amount of magic to save you. Or I assume, at least.'

Zyra narrowed her eyes a bit, examining.

'I have a hunch it will probably effect you in a way, so be prepared for things that may happen out of the ordinary.'

-'I'm kinda used to that already by now.' he answered indifferent. His comment was followed up by a small, but hearty laugh. Now she laughed, he suddenly noticed that even the characteristic echo of her voice was gone. Which was of course only normal if she wanted to look completely human,but still...

'Oh right, the little device in the living started to ring yesterday and it wouldn't stop, which was very annoying. I even wanted to throw it out of the window to make it stop, so stressing. But then I thought you might still want to use it. _-Yeah indeed, thank god.-_ So I put some things on it to mute the sound and muffled it away as far as possible.'

She gestured at the guest room.

'What is it for?'

He chuckled at the way Zyra tried to stop his cellphone from ringing. But that meant someone really want to speak to him. He frowned.

'Show me, I'll explain it.'

She led him to the room and opened the door. He had to suppress the urge to laugh at the sight in front of him. Zyra had started with just a blanket to cover it up, but then went on by placing a drawer and even a whole closet on the bed. _Well that escalated quickly..._

'You did quite the job in muting the sound.' he said, still trying to hold in his laugh. She frowned at the ironic hint in his voice.

'So, if you could get that off, I'll take a look and explain it in the meantime.'

Zyra shrugged and removed the closet as of it weighed nothing, and quickly afterwards the drawer followed. He then lifted the blanket and too his phone. Luckily the fact that the blanket was placed first and that it was a Nokia seemed to have almost nullified the damage. Hayden unlocked it and turned towards Zyra before looking at his screen.

'Have you ever been in Piltover?'

-'No. I detest crowded places without signs of nature.'

'But you still know about Hextech-technology?'

She now placed her hands on her hips.

'Oh please. They use it in the League too, and you know it. Even on the Fields of Justice. Heimerdinger, Vi, Ziggs, to name a few.'

He shook his head and shook his cellphone to draw some attention to it.

'So do you know about long-range communication devices?'

Zyra frowned again.

'As far as I know, we use magic for that.'

_Damnit, so close._

'Well, we obviously don't,so-'

-'Yeah, I figured.'

Hayden raised an eyebrow at her sarcastic interruption.

'Okay, so this thing makes it able to talk with people over the whole world, as long as you give in the right number.'

Zyra tilted her head.

'Number? As in?'

-'A code. It connects you with the device that has that code. For example, my phone number is 381 830800. But that's off the case.'

-'I guess it's the same thing as finding the right aura when you want to connect mentally.' Zyra responded. He nodded, glad that Zyra accepted and understood it so fast. _Now to take a look at my phone..._ Nine. Missed. Calls. What the actual fuck? _Let's see..._ The first one was from Ellie. As was the second one. And the third. The fourth. The fifth. And so on and so on. Then it came back to him he also had a bunch of texts from her in his inbox. _Dayum, gurl. _

'Give me a moment.'

He gestured at Zyra, who walked to the window and leaned against it in response. He twirled the cellphone in his hand around, thinking what he could say to her. What she would ask, rather. What could be so important? He dailed her number and after some seconds, she picked up her phone.

'Yes, Ellie speaking?'

-'Hey Ellie, listen up-' he started, but she cut straight through it.

'Is that you, Hayden? You dickhead! Do you have any idea how worried I was?' she shouted.

-'Just because I didn't respond to your calls?'

'Exactly. I called other people that night, and all the ones who played League of Legends had their computers gone blasted to scrap! And you always respond to my calls, as I do to yours, unless something is wrong. So with that blasted shit happened and then you not responding, don't lie to me and tell me what the fuck happened!'

-'Maybe I was on vacation?' _Damn, that was a desperate and crappy attempt._

'You're never on vacation, you're always alone.'

Hayden now turned to Zyra, who was looking at something about him sceptically. Him seemingly talking to the air probably. He formed the words 'Should we tell her?'.

'Your choice.' she said aloud. Hayden shot her a glare at her blunt response.

'Hayden? I know you're still there. You could also like, answer.'

He was still in doubt. He didn't want to pull her into it, but then again, if someone deserved to know, it was her. Their friendship just obliged him to.

'I'd better show you. Could you come over to my place?'

-'Well, yeah sure, but why not just tell me?'

'Because you wouldn't believe me.'

Now it was silent on Ellie's side. She was clearly taken aback by the serious tone in his voice.

'I'll be there in a minute.' she answered, before hanging up. He pocketed his phone again and went silent.

'So you're gonna involve her in it as well?' Zyra asked.

'I-I feel like I have to. She's actually not just a good friend, she's like a best friend, a soul mate, although we may seem to differ so much.'

He went back to fretting about the situation that he had to explain in some minutes.

'You know, that scar is on your face should be enough to make clear you're meaning all the things you say.'

Zyra seemed to read his thoughts and quickly cut through his thoughts with her remark.

'Perhaps, but how should I even start to explain the scar, let alone all the rest? And how did it even end up like this?'

He pointed at the former wound. She shrugged once more.

'I channeled all the magic through there, maybe that's why. And now I recall, maybe that wasn't the best idea. But don't ask me, I'm not Soraka or Sona or something.'

He sighed. She was the one that healed him and even she didn't know...

'Look, I think I have a plan...

* * *

><p>The knock on the back door was the herald of doom. He hesitated for a moment, but then Zyra gave him a forceful push.<p>

'Come on Hayden, you lured her here, now at least go talk to her instead of hiding in the dark.'

Hayden nodded in defeat and walked out of the living room, in which they were standing now, to the back door. As soon as he opened it, he felt a loud thud and something that rammed him in his diaphragm. _Energetic as always..._ with a small chuckle, he returned her very enthusiastic hug.

'Why do you always do that?'

-'Because saying hello is so mainstream. And because we haven't seen each-'

She suddenly stopped, because she had broken the hug and was now looking at him, and more precisely at his scar.

'What...is that?' she asked, with a confused look.

'Part of the things you wouldn't believe if I just told them through the phone.'

He softly rubbed the cold tissue, forcing some thoughts away. Her bright blue eyes were now filled with concern as she removed a strand of hair out of her face.

'Come now, I'll show you the reason behind this all.'

He gestured her to go first and walked the other room. However, when they entered, he saw the blue of Ellie's eyes lock with those of Zyra. She quickly looked to him and back to her, and then pulled him back into the hall. To his surprise, she looked at him with a mischievous smile.

'Sooo...who's the sexy lady?'

-'Wait, what?'

'Oh, don't you play dumb with me.'

She still grinned as she continued;

'How did you get a girlfriend all of the sudden?'

-'It isn't like that! She's not my girlfriend at all!'

Ellie rolled her eyes.

'Oh Hayden please, for once there is a beautiful girl in your home and you give me this shit? There is something between you two, there just has to be, I can feel it. And trust me, I'm a girl, I know this stuff.'

Her evil smile grew bigger with every darker tint of red on his face. She suddenly pulled him back to the living room.

'Come on, I wanna meet her!'

-'Ell, listen to me, it's not like that!'

But she didn't want to hear any of it and just walked into the room again. He followed, with his palm against his face. When they were all gathered again, Ellie started;

'Sooo...how did you two meet?'

Zyra exchanged a confused look with him with a raised eyebrow. Hayden smiled back apologetically.

'Yeahhhh, about that...'

After those words he sank back into silence, while rubbing the scar on his cheek absentmindedly. He noticed he did that every time he was musing about something.

'Well, let's start at the start. First, a question on my side. What happened to your computer when the game crashed?'

-'It exploded. I was lucky I could cover my face to block the debris. That's why I was worried, I imagined you being hit by glass on the wrong spot and lying in the hospital or something.'

Ellie just frowned wryly at the memory.

'Well, did you try to start up League of Legends on another computer again after the crash?'

-'No, I didn't but I heard from others there were some strange things going on.'

'And they are right. After the incident, I tried to start up League again. The game loaded normally, until I got to champ select. There were no-'

-'champs to select, yes, that's what I heard. What about it?'

Now, he sighed deeply.

'Well, I think I have an idea where they went off to.'

He then turned to Zyra and nodded. She tilted her head a bit, seemingly in doubt.

'You sure about this?'

The moment she spoke up, Ellie twitched. She narrowed her eyes, looking at Zyra with a questioned look. Hayden shrugged off all the doubt and now firmly nodded at Zyra. She lifted herself from her leaning pose and stood straight now.

'Your clothes will be ruined, though.'

He waved her remark away with his hand.

'Go on now, before I start to question it all again.'

She lifted her shoulders and seemed to gather energy. Then, one of the strangest things he'd ever seen started. The irises of her eyes started to glow in a bright yellow again, and the traces of vegetation reappeared on her face, while her teeth sharpened. Her ears extended, and the green stripes in her hair detached themselves to form the petal-like extensions together with her ears. On the rest of her body, the green started to show again. Flowers erupted from her shoulders, and her characteristic thorny vines waved themselves around her now bare arms, with green forearms and hands. Her pants ripped, just like the T-shirt she wore, revealing her now scarce covered upper body and her dark green tinted legs. Finishing the transformation, the bright yellow of her irises now covered her whole eyes. In front of them now stood Zyra, like everyone was used to see her, inspecting her recovered body with visible delight. He glanced sideways at Ellie, who now stood frozen in place, with eyes as big as biologically was possible.

'This...this isn't happening. You-you can't be Zyra! This is just impossible!' _No, this is just very good cosplay, of course._

Zyra raised her eyebrows in response.

'Girl, you just saw me transforming from that form to my real one, and now you're questioning the fact I'm really me?'

The echo in her voice had returned, and immediately gave her answer an eerie vibe. Ellie gasped for air and seemed to stumble, before Hayden grabbed her by the shoulders and held her firmly in his grip.

'Come on, Ellie, look at me.'

Her eyes slowly focused themselves on him again. He took her left hand and brought it to his face, letting it touch the scar. He saw her shudder a bit by the unexpected, cold touch.

'This is real as well, see? And you didn't question that when I let you in. This is the reason why I couldn't tell you over the phone. Admit it, would you believe me?'

Ellie seemed to have regained her senses and straightened again.

'I even have trouble believing you now...' she said with an uneven voice.

'Don't worry, I'm still doubting it myself.'

She gave him a faint smile.

'Who else knows about this?' she asked, regaining some firmness in her voice.

'So far, it's you, Lily and the daughter of her aunt.'

-'Lily? Isn't that the little girl next door?'

'Watch your words there lady, she's already 'almost eleven!'. But yes she is, and I repeatedly pressed on the fact she mustn't tell anyone, even not her parents or her aunt.'

-'And so far she hasn't done that yet. She's a remarkable girl.' Zyra suddenly stepped in. Ellie seemed to wince a bit by hearing her speak. Zyra noticed it.

'Don't like my voice?' she chuckled.

'I knew I recognized it from somewhere...' Ellie answered. Zyra laughed softly, her voice resonating between the walls.

'So, coming to business...' Hayden began.

'I know what you're about to ask. No, Vayne hasn't appeared in my house. Don't you think I would've responded different if I'd already met a Champion?'

He couldn't argue the undeniable logic of the statement.

'But how did Zyra show up here then?'

No one knew the answer, and it became quiet for a while. Then, Ellie suddenly moved.

'Hey, listen...League is played by so many people that it's certain that on the moment of the crash lots of people were playing Vayne and Zyra. What if that crash sent them to a random player who was playing them on that moment, which in this case, was you?'

Both Zyra and Hayden gasped, realizing the magnitude of the problem if that was true.

'But then they could be anywhere around the world...' Zyra gritted.

'Yes, but now and then -he looked at Zyra, who gave him a guilty glance- one or some of them will make a mistake, and if it'll be noticed, it'll be an instant internet hit. I guess we have to wait for that moment.'

-'But that could take ages!' Ellie protested.

'What choice do we have? Just walk out into the city while calling out the names of Champions?'

Zyra laughed hard at the idea when he said that, the eerie echo seemingly fading from her voice for as long as she laughed, and soon Ellie and Hayden couldn't hold theirs, infected by Zyra laughing. For a moment, they were just laughing together, as if they were good friends who shared good times. It certainly eased the mood a bit. When everyone had calmed down, Ellie turned to Zyra.

'How come you're laughing so different now? This laugh was hearty and contagious, while your laugh on the Rift is so evil.'

-'When we enter the League as champions, we all have to record a bunch of quotes, jokes, laughs, etc for some kind of reason. And because I'm a corrupted person, my laugh needed to be evil. Which doesn't mean I've never laughed like that in real life. Sometimes I have my moments.'

She smiled again, showing her sharp teeth. Ellie tensed up again, not used to Zyra yet, apparently.

'And you!' she suddenly exclaimed, turning to him.

'What's with that scar? How did you get it?'

He smiled .

'You'd better turn back to her, then. She'll explain.'

He gestured at Zyra. Zyra's eyes lit up in surprise, but then she quickly shot him an angry glare. He just looked back with a grin.

'So?' Ellie asked impatiently.

'Ehm...' Zyra hesitated. She seemed to push away some thoughts.

'After I came to this world, I attacked and poisoned him, leaving him for dead, after which he came back just in time to save me from a lethal shot wound. When I woke up, I was here, with him next to me, on the brink of death by poisoning, so I cured it, also just in time.' she said, fast and bluntly, while showing the shot wound on her back. Ellie looked puzzled.

'You first poisoned him, but later on saved him from your own poisoning? Why?'

To this, Zyra went silent.

'...To thank him for saving me.' she whispered.

-'The evil and mighty Zyra, who can control nature itself, is embarrassed to show she has a soft side! How...CUTE!' Ellie yelled, after carefully listening to what Zyra said. Zyra turned her head away, cheeks rosing.

'But you didn't explain why it's coloured like that yet.'

Ellie pointed at the purple slash.

'I'm afraid some of the magic I poured into it was absorbed by the body, imbued in that scar. Perhaps because I'm not that good of a healer, and my magic was unstable. Either way, it seems-'

-'So you made him a sort of Harry Potter?'

'a Harry who?' answered Zyra questioningly.

But Hayden already burst out in laughter, quickly followed by Ellie.

'Will it give him special powers?' Ellie asked when they calmed down again.

'I'm already surprised it didn't kill him.' Zyra answered dryly.

'And he also kept going on about that.' she continued, while pointing at him.

'So, for the umpteenth time, I do not know. Why are you so keen about that?'

A little silence followed. Then, with a tiny voice, Hayden said;

'It's just, for us "normal people" , having special gifts like you, Champions, is something that sounds so out of reach... It really taps into our dreams, I guess that makes us excited. And you have to admit, this scar isn't normal.'

-'Just forget about it.' Zyra snarled, growing annoyed. He shook his head, touching the skin once more.

'Moving on, what do we do in the meantime?' he began, but Ellie immediately responded.

'We're gonna get YOU to the city to buy you some acceptable stuff so you don't have to walk around in that baggy garbage -'Hey!' Hayden quickly called in between- anymore!'

She pointed at Zyra, who raised an eyebrow. Zyra placed her hands on her hips.

'You don't expect me to agree with that, do you?'

-'You don't have to! We just go!'

Zyra stared dumbfounded at Hayden, who raised his hands in innocence.

'Let me ask you something. Do you expect an ancient mage who can indeed control nature by gestures of her hands just to take orders from a girl like you?'

He knew Ellie was nervous because they knew each other so well, but she was damn good in hiding it.

'You'll love it, I'm sure! Be right back, I'll get some spare clothes for you to wear in the meantime!'

And with those words, she left the living room, went outside, and very soon after they heard her car driving down the driveway. When the sound faded away, Zyra turned to him.

'Exactly what' she hissed dangerously, 'did you pull me into just now?'

Hayden couldn't resist it, even with Zyra so angry her eyes breathed fire, he started laughing at the situation, and even more at the situation that was about to unfold.

* * *

><p>A few hours later they heard the door opening again, and there was Ellie, indeed carrying some of her clothes.<p>

'Catch!'

She threw the clothes at Zyra, who didn't move, just letting them fall on the ground. She raised an eyebrow at Ellie, who pouted in annoyance. She faced Zyra and mimicked her raised eyebrow-expression, complete with even copying her stance. He smirked as the two woman stared each other down, Ellie now clearly not scared anymore. After a long silence, Ellie finally spoke up.

'Come on, at least _try_ them.'

Zyra didn't budge.

'You can't walk around like that forever, I'm trying to help you.'

Again, no movement.

'Fine! If you want to get another shot wound to add to the collection, fine! But don't expect us to help when you are degraded to a limp houseplant because they overpowered you!' she finally snapped. This time, Zyra moved. She narrowed her eyes and snarled back;

'Don't. You. Tell. Me.' she growled, while advancing through the room in direction of Ellie. _There they go, Bitch Mode incoming._

'What. To. **DO!**'

She reached Ellie and towered over her, being a larger woman and on heels, while Ellie was rather small. Her yellow eyes were dangerously small, but Ellie's eyes spat so much venom it made her look evenly dangerous. Her voice lowered to a low, but lethally sounding whisper, she said.

'You are going to try these on, and you are going to do it now. If you don't, I swear I'll find a way to screw you over so hard you wished you would've stayed in your plant form.'

Even Zyra was taken aback, and he didn't know whether it was out of respect for her courage or just that she was really startled, but she took the clothes from the ground and walked to the other room, to dress up. When she was gone, he turned to Ellie, who was still reverberating anger.

'Help me remember never to get on your bad side.'

Ellie took a deep breath, turned to him and suddenly shuddered. But then she smiled, her blue eyes twinkling again.

'You better remember that,yes! But no, really, I have no idea how I managed to convince her.'

She took another deep breath.

'Girl, do you have any idea how hazardous you sounded there?'

She laughed in relief and sighed again, blowing off some steam.

'Do you think she'll be able to fit in?' he asked.

'She has already adapted from her life as a plant to a human life once. This is just a step further. I think she'll manage just fine, no worries.' she assured in response. A long, but comfortable silence followed, two good friends who needed nothing to say to enjoy each others company.

And there, after a good ten minutes, Zyra emerged from the room she had been dressing up in. When she finally stood in the chamber, Ellie whistled in approval. She had readopted her "fully human" form, and now, with also more feminine clothing to suit her natural curves, she definitely was a sight to behold. Ellie gave him a small elbow and whispered;

'If you now don't agree she has her sexy side, I'm afraid I have to place an official post on your Facebook stating you're gay.'

He rolled with his eyes and pushed her away playfully, which made her giggle.

'Are you happy now?' Zyra said from the other side of the room, her voice once more lifted from its echo. Ellie lifted her head in a staged surprise.

'Even your voice is cute now!' _Now you're taking it too far..._

Zyra just shook her head in disbelieve of the attempts of Ellie. Although...

'Well, I do have to admit I'd rather wear these than your clothes, Hayden.' she said, while inspecting her figure now. _So still a real woman inside after all..._

'Score!' whispered Ellie next to him.

'How come your clothes fit her, anyway? Even without heels she's taller than you.'

Ellie sulked a bit.

'I'm not _that_ small! And I just brought along some of the clothes that are too big for me to wear.'

-'Why the hell do you buy clothes that are too big for you?'

'Just because!'

-'Seems legit.'

'Exactly.' she said, while turning on her heels.

'Now, let's take off, to the city!'

Zyra's eyes flickered yellow again, but a small smile escaped her lips, and she followed Ellie in her trail. Grinning, Hayden closed the line. But in front, Ellie suddenly froze in place.  
>'Or Hayden, wait a sec!'<p>

She began furiously searching through her bag, while Zyra pulled up an eyebrow at her actions.

'I suddenly remembered!'

Ellie pulled out a tiny tin of makeup and proudly presented it.

'I rarely use it, but I had taken this along for you.'

Now it was Hayden's turn to raise an eyebrow.

'Thanks, but no thanks. I'm not really into makeup.'

-'Then take a look at yourself in the nearest mirror and tell me that again with the same conviction.'

Zyra snickered and Ellie gestured at her own left cheek to point out the problem.

'Oh, right...'

Blushing slightly, he got the message and nodded, extending his hand to grab the pot. Ellie quickly retracted it before he could lay his fingers on it.

'On second thought, I'd rather do that. Me being better with makeup, being a girl and stuff.'

Hayden shrugged and pulled back his hand. When nothing happened in the next few seconds and she was just looking to the side a bit, he shot her a questioning look. Ellie noticed, and answered;

'...Could you sit down? I'm not that tall...'

Hayden laughed, which made Ellie pout, but then he sat down on the sofa, or what was left of the sofa.

After she had applied the makeup, she took a step back to admire her work.

'Not like it's completely concealed now, but at least it looks like a normal scratch now if you don't look especially at it.'

He shot Zyra a questioning look. She nodded in approval.

'It indeed is hidden a bit more now. As long as it won't light up again we're good.'

Hayden sighed in relief and walked outside, followed by the two women. When he wanted to take seat in the front, Ellie quickly pulled him back and resolutely took the wheel, pushing him to the backseat, next to Zyra.

'From what I've heard you could only properly walk since this morning. No driving for you now, bro. And while you're there you can show here how to use the seatbelt.'

She pointed next to him, at Zyra, who just sat cross-legged at her side of the backseat.

'A what?'

She cocked an eyebrow.

'See.' waved Ellie, before she sat down in the front seat. After Hayden had shown Zyra how to utilize the seatbelt, they took off.

* * *

><p>While they were driving, Zyra looked at him with an examining look.<p>

'You look troubled.' she said, in a tone that assured it was a fact, and not a guess. He sighed.

'Yes. I'm just so... How can we find the others like this? We were laughing about it, but Ellie was right, it could take ages.'

Zyra shifted her position a bit, grimacing because a jolt of pain stabbed through her shot wound.

'You said it yourself that we just had to wait, and your remark of the rumour it would cause is true, so just be patient, and wait for your time to search and strike.'

-'Hmm...' he slightly nodded.

After a short pause, Ellie frowned a bit and said;

'Wait, everyone's computer was destroyed during the breakdown, I told you that, right?'

-'I also experienced it with my own eyes, if that wasn't clear.'

Ellie shook her head.

'No, I mean, literally destroyed. Yours just went totally wacko and crashed in a strange way, with the green and stuff. I noticed that when I was in your living room.'

-'Oh shit! That's true, I haven't cleaned that place up yet!' Hayden said.

'But what's your point?' he continued. Zyra, who clearly was following Ellie's way of thinking now looked at him with a sarcastic expression.

'Are you pretending to be or are you really retarded?'

He opened his mouth to respond, but Ellie quickly said;

'Just _sometimes_ he is, yes.'

Hayden frowned at her laugh that followed, she knew he was pissed now.

'Come on, dull head, think for a bit.' Zyra sarcastically followed up. Then, the realization came.

'We just have to look around and ask for people who's computers weren't destroyed, but just crashed!'

-'Bravo!'

Zyra clapped her hands very slowly, making it as sarcastic as she could.

'How does it feel, Hayden, a double burn by two girls?' said Ellie, still snickering.

'Shut up.'

He felt his cheeks redden in shame.

'But actually, if we take it a step further, why not just ask who has seen a Champion in their surroundings after the crash?' Zyra went on. Now it was his turn to look at her as if she missed some important brain parts.

'Birds of a feather...' whispered Ellie up front.

'And fuck you too.' he whispered back, although somewhat louder.

'No offense, Zyra, but I wouldn't quite start to brag around that I have a woman covered in leaves who can summon roots and plants living in my house.'

Ellie snorted, but apparently that was just a failed attempt to hold her laugh. While she laughed in silence under her breath, Zyra scowled and looked to the outside.

'What's with you humans of this planet...You make it so unnecessarily difficult.'

-'It's called social life. It sucks.'

This caused Ellie to bit her lip once more, successfully holding her laugh this time. Scrap that, only temporarily successful in holding her laugh. Just moments later she started laughing out loud and hard, almost slamming her head against the steering wheel in her exuberant laughter.

'What the fuck Ellie, you're driving!'

-'Let me laugh if I want to, at least I'm not so lazy that it took me three years to finally get a license.'

She smiled again, suppressing another outburst. Hayden frowned, and Zyra just rolled her eyes.

'I hope this is finished quickly, you two are unbelievable...'

* * *

><p><strong>So, thank you guys for the nice comments, they really give me more courage to post more n.n<strong>

**SilverstormXD: I think I somewhat get what you are trying to say, that it basically comes down to 'I WANT WAR' or something?xd Although in its core it is a viable idea :D**

**Gumblewart: Thanks for the optional correction, always appreciated n.n as was your nice comment in its whole :D **

**For the two guests, I can't reply so personally, but your comments were awesome no doubt n.n  
><strong>

**SmellNDie: Nice you pointed that out, it was also one of the things I really wanted to show, a more in depth-Zyra n.n**

**Deftex: Thank you:D**


	5. Blending In

**Hello again! :D  
>As it should be with an incomplete story, here's another chapter ^^ Once more, I hope you will enjoy it as much as I enjoy writing it, and thanks everyone for the support. Every view, follow, fav and most of all, comment gives me more courage to continue :D<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Blending In<strong>

They were walking down a shopping avenue, and it was quite a funny sight to see Zyra so awkwardly walking around, clearly stressed by the huge amount of people that crowded the street. But on the other hand, she was also amazed by all that was around here, so different from Runeterra . She wouldn't admit it, but they could see it in her eyes.

'There's the mall! Come on!'

Ellie pointed at, indeed, the mall, and pulled him with her. She then quickly also pulled Zyra with her other hand, causing a surprised yelp, because Zyra was still looking at the other end of the street. Practically dragging them both to the building, it was clear she had a pinpointed destination: A clothing store.  
>Ellie clapped in her hands excitedly while they stood in front of the store she was aiming for. Zyra on the other hand eyed the store rather suspiciously, and Hayden himself...<p>

'Remind me how exactly I agreed to tag along...'

-'Ahh, don't be like that, you could use some better clothes too.'

She walked resolutely into the store, followed by a still tensed Zyra. He just mumbled somewhat as he followed her inside.  
>While Ellie strolled around the store shelves in an elated matter, Zyra and him just tailed behind her.<p>

'They are looking at you.'

She said it so out of the blue that he was confused for a second. But he recovered quickly and tried to counter.

'Certain they aren't looking at you, with the green in your hair and stuff?'

-'Shut up, I'm serious.' she coldly responded. Hesitantly, he subtly took some glances around, and indeed, all the time at least a few people were watching him, turning their heads as he passed.

'But the tissue is covered, how can it attract attention now?'

-'Every now and then it slightly lights up.' she replied, still looking forward. He suddenly felt a pang of panic raise in his chest, and one of his hands moved to stroke the scar tissue unconsciously, knowing it was covered, but still... However, before his hand could even start getting in the proximity to his face, it was halted. Zyra took hold of his hand, holding it in a soft, yet firm grip.

'Don't focus even more attention on it.'

Then, her eyes darted to the side for a second.

'...And sorry. It's my fault they are watching you...'

Hayden turned his head in disbelief. _She was...apologizing? Openly like this? What is taking hold of you, Zyra..._ Not that he didn't like it, though. Quite the opposite, this was a step in the direction he was aiming for. He lowered his hand and shook his head. He locked eyes with her now and said in a hushing, yet stern tone;

'We've been through this subject already. Try to put it behind us, as I do.'

' For now.' he added. Zyra nodded after a moment of hesitation, but he felt she let her hand rest on his for a moment longer, until she noticed it and quickly pulled it away. After a while, he asked;

'Does it light up pretty bright? Because-'

-'No, it's more like a soft flickering now and then. But that's just what attracts the attention, because it moves. But don't bother about it, I said it just so you know.'

He was reluctant for a moment, but nodded. Then it went silent between them again.

Even after the small exchange of words, Zyra still scanned the store, clearly distressed.

'Why so tensed up? I told you already, it's-'

-'It's not that.' she snapped unexpectedly. He took a step aside, startled by her sudden sharp tone.

'Then what is-'

'Stop. I don't want to talk about it! It's nothing.'

Her voice was softer now, but still irritated. Hayden now got the message and went on;

'Don't tell me this is the first time you've been around more than a few people.'

She tilted her head and scowled at him.

'You can't exactly call this amount of people "normal"! This is such a huge nest of people, they're crawling like ants!' she gritted. _Hit the spot. _Hayden raised his eyebrows at her annoyed response. Then, he narrowed his eyes, smiling slyly. Zyra noticed his gaze.

'What?'

-'You 're scared, aren't you?' he sneered teasingly. Zyra eyes bulged slightly. Then, they became small slits.

'What did you just say?'

Her voice lowered while she beamed at him, and a trace of yellow quickly flashed in her irises. He stashed away a laugh and continued;

'Poor little Zyra can obliterate armies, but can't undergo the challenge of going out to shop for some clothes...'

When the words just left his mouth, they passed a large group of people all grouped around a certain sweater. She clenched her jaw and nervously eyed the bunch as they had to squeeze their bodies around the few nice people who refused to bulge and give them a bit of space to pass.

'I knew it!' he whispered. Zyra squeezed her hands in slight anger.

'Shut up...' she muttered, to which Hayden just laughed. Even so, Zyra continued to look around every so often.

'Zyra! I found something!'

Ellie was standing in just in front of them, but still talked quite loud, happily waving with a T-shirt. Zyra turned and walked up to her.

'Would you be so kind to not scream my name?' she whispered, in a deadly tone. She then folded her arms and eyed Ellie, clearly annoyed.

'If it's your concern to keep me hidden, then stop talking so loud about it, I don't quite have a common name, you know.'

-'Ups..'

Zyra shook her head.

'Idiots...'

Ellie pouted her lips and shot her a glare.

'Idiots who gave you shelter and saved you! So watch your words, miss!'

Zyra opened her mouth and was about to give a stingy reply when Hayden quickly stepped in between the two and lifted his hands.

'Could you girls save your cat fights for inside the house, okay, thank you.'

Now, both Zyra and Ellie looked at him with a dangerous hint in their eyes. He gulped slightly. _Dangerous territory here, bro._ He shook his head and returned Ellie's gaze.

'Didn't you have something to show her?'

Ellie's eyes grew a bit bigger, a little excitement returning.

'Yeah, right! Here, Z-ehm, I mean, here...'

She was about to call out her name again, but another glance of Zyra made her shut up again. Silently, she gave Zyra the T-shirt, who took it and eyed it sceptically.

'What exactly,'

She turned the shirt around and pointed at the front side.

'Is this utterly annoying thing?'

-'That's a...smiley? It's not annoying, it's cute!' Ellie answered semi-upset.

'A what? This just looks like something Lux would draw when she's high on Teemo's shrooms.'

He couldn't help it, he burst out in laughter again, soon followed by Ellie. Zyra pursed her lips in annoyance and placed her hands on her hips while she eyed them disapprovingly. Ellie got up again and now sent Zyra an almost pleasing look.

'Come on...just try?'

Zyra opened her mouth and was about to release a huge sigh, but Ellie looked at her with a firm gaze.

'You know that I'm just gonna show you all kinds of cloths until you can't refuse anymore, do you?'

Zyra opened her eyes with a tired, but amazed look. She turned to him and asked;

'How do you live with this thing?'

Hayden laughed at her remark and more specifically at Ellie's reddening facial expression.

'You get used to it.'

Ellie crossed her arms in dismay.

'Okay, okay, I get it, no smiley's.'

She took up the T-shirt and disappeared between the racks while Zyra smiled.

* * *

><p>Over the next half hour, Ellie came trotting towards them with clothes every so often, mostly T-shirt or blouses, occasionally pants or whatever. And indeed, after a while Zyra had to give in and try some on. When she came out of the dressing room once again, she mumbled to him;<p>

'She can't go on like this forever, can she?'

He smiled and replied;

'If she's in the mood, her energy level can exceed certain values...'

The words had yet to leave his mouth completely, or Ellie already came walking towards them with another set of clothes. Zyra rolled her eyes.

'Oh, you got to be kidding me...'

When she reached the two, she turned to Zyra.

'It looks good on you, but perhaps you need a bigger size, this one seems kinda tight. It does give away some curves.' she winked, probably more to him than to Zyra.

'Why you little...'

After she made Zyra try on those T-shirts as well, he had enough.

'Okay, I'm done. I'm going outside, I can't stand this anymore. You're torturing Zyra like this. '

-'Good idea, then I can give her some real tips at least.'

Both him and Zyra looked at her in slight disbelief.

'I'm not going to think about what you mean with real tips...Just text me when you're done.'

-'Okay!'

Zyra made a face that said 'Don't leave me with this thing' but Ellie just pulled her along, now able to fully overwhelm her with "advice" and "info", while walking with her to another part of the store. He grinned at the sight of the now clearly distressed plant-woman. _Hopefully she wouldn't try to give some advice about the relationship she thought was blossoming between me and Zyra. _Why did his cheeks flush a bit by that thought? _Fuck you, brain._ But well, here he was now, all alone, deserted by his friend(s) in the big, big mall. He figured he could as well go for a drink or something, and turned around, heading for the nearest vending machine. While on his way, he passed a a group of people around his age, who excitedly were crowded together around the phone of one of the girls.

'...and I told you, just look at this, she sent me this mere minutes ago. This is like the most perfect cosplay of Riven I've ever seen! Look, she almost seems to have _real_ crimson eyes!'

Some gasps of amazement followed as they took a good look at the picture. Curiously, Hayden slowed down and turned his head around.

_Could it be...?_

He hesitated for a moment, but then firmly walked up to the group. _On second hand, how am I going to do this?_

'Hey, ehm, I overheard you talking about some very good Riven cosplay, and she's my favourite champ...Would you mind showing me that picture too?'

The moment he said that, five heads turned in his direction and the group turned silent in awe.

He didn't realize it on the spot, but they all were almost staring at his scar. As soon as he noticed the people looking at it, he self-consciously rubbed over the covered skin, knowing it must be lighting up again.

'Ehm, well, about this...'

-'Duuudee. How did you get it like that? It almost seems real!' _Oh thank god, I encountered a bunch of cosplay fanatics and now they're drooling over my scar... _

'Well ehm, this is really hard to make, you have to mix the paint and the makeup over it in such a way that it only reflects light sometimes, so it seems to flicker. ' he blabbered.

_Wow, how did i make that up so fast_... He thought they wouldn't believe a word of what he said, but they still watched it in amazement. Realizing he'd better make the next move again, he went on;

'So...Do you mind showing me the picture? If I may?'

-'Right, sure!'

The girl with the phone in her hand walked up to him and showed him a picture of a woman with characteristic white hair, her head turned at the camera in annoyed surprise, while trying to disappear in the crowd. Even when he wouldn't knew about the outbreak of Champions, he'd still doubt the authenticity that this was a mere cosplay. From her posture to her figure and her blazing eyes, this was Riven all right.

'Could...you tell me where this picture was taken?'

She eyed him a bit suspiciously, but then seemed to shrug a little bit.

'One of my friends took it, in a small city up north, like, let's say, a 30 minute drive. You just follow the highway until the next exit to the north, and then it should more or less directly guide you to it.'

If he wasn't so thrilled by the fact that he already found someone he'd thought about the fact she just told him everything like it was nothing that a complete stranger just asked things like this. Nonetheless, he nodded in acknowledgment.

'Thank you for the help, you don't know how much this helped me.'

-'No probs, bro.' the girl smiled, before turning around again simultaneously with him walking away.

'Good luck getting that paint off, seems like it will be difficult!' I heard one of them yell behind me. Hayden raised his hand in a greet to show he heard it and continued to walk in direction of the shop.

_They'll be amazed to hear this..._

* * *

><p>'No way!'<p>

Ellie stood in front of him, completely astonished. Next to her, Zyra eyed him with equal amazement.

'But I'm telling you, it's the truth! She just had everything, the posture, the body figure, hair, eyes, everything!'

-'You know you can imitate that, right? It's called cosplay, some people really take it very serious.'

'No, I mean it! She just resembles her too much! And it wouldn't hurt to just have a look there? Who knows?'

He crossed his arms stubbornly and steadied himself for her comeback. But it never came. Zyra was faster than Ellie.

'I'd say we have to take the gamble. Imagine if Riven is actually there, and we would miss her just because it sounds so unbelievable? You call that unbelievable, while you met me, Zyra, a woman who can summon and control nature at her will, here in a random city and accept it, then how can you call that ridiculous and this situation not?'

Her eyes flickered a bit after those words. Ellie bit her lip again, realizing the truth in Zyra's words. That, or she was too tensed up to argue with her. Or both. Zyra noticed her doubt and took it as a yes.

'That's settled then. Let's meet up with Riven!'

Saying that, she turned one hundred and eighty degrees around and started walking towards to exit of the mall.

'She kinda reminds me of you there.' he whispered to Ellie.

'Shut the fuck up.' she kindly replied and followed Zyra. He sighed a bit.

_Great, now I have two women who aren't reachable for any argumentation in their opinions or actions._

* * *

><p>'Do all cars in this world drive so slow? I have only been in an Hextech car <em>once<em> and I can tell these cars are lethargic.'

They had set off for home and gathered things they needed to begin their search, things which mostly consisted out of money, money and more money. And cellphones. They had given Zyra one as well, and she had learned surprisingly fast how to use one. And now they were driving down the highway, or rather advancing at a snail's pace. That, and Zyra grew annoyed while they were stuck in the traffic jam for half an hour already.

'Just be patient, Zyra, I know you can be.' Hayden answered drowsy, bored by the waiting.

'Yeah, how do you think I feel, waiting the entire time to advance just some centimeters every time; stuck at the steering wheel?' Ellie barged in.

'Tsss...'

A silence fell over the three of them, the buzzing of the traffic outside taking over. Hayden glanced at Zyra, to see if she had enough control over her mood to not summon some plants in the car or let them erupt from the highway. But for now, it seemed just fine. She was looking at her hands absentmindedly, not really paying attention to anything, her eyes dazing off, glowing in a soft, yellow hue.

_She appears to be so serene now..._

He shook his head, turned and started to stare out the window on his side.

'Your scar is lighting up again. And permanently this time.' Zyra suddenly said after a while.

'Hmm?'

He rubbed over the covered skin.

'Can you see it again?'

-'Yes. It's like a faint, purplish glow under the makeup.'

Hayden was about to reply, but;

'Really?'

Ellie suddenly barged in and turned around in her seat, scanning the skin on his cheek.

'What the fuck Ellie? Could you please keep your eyes on the road when you are driving?'

-'Oh, hush, this traffic jam progresses with the movement speed of my grandma when she tries to get out of bed.'

'YOU'RE NOT EVEN HOLDING THE FUCKING STEERING WHEEL?' he said when he noticed that she also had her hands placed on the edge of her chair.

She glanced at her hands.

'Ups.' she responded dryly, and turned around again. Glad with Ellie looking at the road again, he turned around. When he looked to the side, he saw that Zyra was still looking at him questioningly. In her eyes, a yellow brim stirred within the blue irises.

'What's the matter?'

She didn't respond, but just frowned a bit, looking at his cheek. Slowly, she raised her hand and extended it, reaching for the spot where the horizontal slash was located on his face. Her hand opened and she spread her fingers. It was done in such an affectionate way, as if she wanted to embrace a friend. Just when her fingertips where about to touch his skin, Ellie kinda aggressively turned the car away from the highway, on the side road they had to follow towards the city.

'Finally out of that bullshit traffic jam!' she happily exclaimed. With the sudden movement of the car, Zyra halted and retracted her hand, the yellow glisters in her eyes disappearing, leaving only a slightly surprised and dazed look on her face. She narrowed her eyes a bit and shook her head. One more glance at his face, and she switched her gaze to the outside again. Hayden was left behind evenly surprised with her strange behavior just now.

'Where to now, Hayden?'

Ellie's voice snapped him out of his daze. He moved his head to in between the two front seats and looked at the road ahead.

'Just straight ahead if I remember correctly. Stop at the first city you encounter, it'll probably be right. I guess.'

Ellie nodded in response.

* * *

><p>'Okay, now that we're here, how are we going to find Riven?'<p>

A while earlier, they had arrived in the city, and now were more or less lost in her streets. They were casually strolling through a broad street, just looking around a bit aimlessly. A small silence followed Ellie's question. She turned to him.

'Didn't you get to see a picture of Riven, Hayden?'

-'Is that a legit question? Yes, I did get to see a picture if Riven, but how would that help us here? It's not like there was a map included that pinpointed her location.'

She had no answer to this, probably realizing the stupidity of her question.

'You can deduct some things from it, though.' Zyra suddenly stepped in. Now, she too turned to him.

'What kind of clothes was she wearing?'

Hayden frowned a bit, trying to recall the image of the picture well as he could.

'She...was oddly enough, kinda casually clothed. She...was wearing a blue hoodie and casual sneakers, but still had her characteristic white skirt and belt. Ah, and of course she had her trademark bandages.'

-'Well, then we'll search for someone with those looks. She does come outside, because if she wouldn't, that picture couldn't be taken. We'll find her sooner or later.'

Ellie lifted her head.

'Let's take a look at some supermarkets? She needs food.'

-'I vote yes on that one.' Hayden followed up.

Zyra just shrugged.

'Whatever random guess works.'

They resolutely walked back to the car, but underway Hayden said;

'There are a lot of supermarkets...'

-'Do you expect us do split our selfs up in a hundred people or something?' Zyra sarcastically remarked.

'We're still with three, so that's a bit more of a chance.' Ellie added.

'Fine, fine...' Hayden surrendered. They got back into the car and as soon as they reached the first supermarket, Hayden unbelted himself.

'You can drop me off here, I'm taking this one.'

Ellie drove up the parking lot and he opened the door. Ellie turned around and asked;

'Any reason you wanted this one so hard?'

-'Dunno. Just felt like it.'

He rubbed his scar a bit. Zyra gave him a strangely firm, deep look. Her gaze slid across his scar once more.

'Succes.'

The word sounded quite wry in her mouth, but nonetheless he halted and tried to answer her gaze to the best he could.

'You too.'

Wow, that sounded so serious. As if you really meant it._ Shut it brain._

* * *

><p>'Maybe I should wear a hoodie too...' he mumbled, seeing people now and then steal a quick glance at him. He felt his cheeks burn every time, and had a hunch that only made it worse.<p>

'God damnit Ellie, if you apply makeup then at least make it work...'

He started to feel a bit discouraged, he had scanned the store twice already, and was now walking around aimlessly, hoping for an encounter, one he clearly had missed. And honestly, what chance did he have? Okay, they narrowed down the search from the entire world a city, such gravity, much improvement, wow. But then again, they had _a _chance. It was small, but it was there. Too bad their tactics were as ancient as Zilean's clock.

He looked to his left side and only saw various kinds of chips, all trying to best each other in luring him to buy them, one already flashier than the other. He let out a deep breath and passed the checkout, earning an annoyed glance from the cashier.

Back on the main avenue in which the store was located, he had the choice of three streets. He let his gaze glide over them while going through options in his head. Should he follow his feeling and just pick a street? Or should he follow..._his scar? _

_Wait, what the fuck?_

While looking at the second street again, he could feel his scar lighting up. Quickly, he covered it with his hand. _This can't be because of the direction, it's just coincidence._ He switched his view and the feeling disappeared. Then, he switched it back, but the scar didn't respond. Relieved, he was about to take his hand off the skin, but then his scar lit up again, as if it had been waiting for that moment. It was undeniably connected with that direction now. _God, what am I now, a compass? _But nonetheless, he walked in direction of the second street. _"I followed my scar"_.. He already laughed at the thought.

While walking down the street, he tried to scan the crowd as much as possible without looking like a creep, but to no avail. No sign of her. He sighed. What chance did they have anyway... Temporarily giving up on his search, he just looked forward, for a place to start a new search, or something.

Perhaps, food.

And that's when he was it. It was just a flash of white, but it was covered under a blue hood. When he turned around, he crossed eyes with a pair of crimson eyes, who were quickly pulled away as the owner noticed his attention and turned her head away.

Riven.

_YES! How in the fucking world, but YES!_

While he tried to follow her blue hood in between the rows of people, he weighed his chances. He could call her name, but it would probably just cause commotion and make her flee. Or he could try to catch up to her, but taken into account that she was an ex-soldier and a League Champion, as soon as she would just try a bit it would become...impossible. _I'm gonna try my luck on stealthily following her until I can talk to her...I guess._ And that worked, or at least she made it look like it worked, until they got into lesser crowded streets. Still walking ahead of him, she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks.

'What do you want?'

Her voice was unexpectedly soft, even more than in the game. She hadn't moved an inch, her back still turned to him.

'I want, no I **need** too talk to you...Riven.

* * *

><p><strong>Time to show my gratitude for all the commenters again n.n<strong>

**Charvx:**

**Thank you for liking that part, I also had some fun writing that n.n And about your theory about magic, is it alright with you if I can keep that theory in mind to perhaps use it if it will fit? It's an interesting one :D And what's more, I don't care about long comments, most of the times it's only better, since it'll contain some interesting things, like here, your theory n.n unless it's only SPAMSPAMSPAM, but I don't think anyone would enjoy his free time doing that lol  
><strong>

**Guest: Wow, I'm honoured that I'm one of the only ones you have commented on yet :o Thank you^^**

**OGmakara: Thank you :D But I'm gonna warn already, I'm a really 'random writer', if I can call it like that, I can't really sit down and say 'Now I'm writing the next chapter.', it has to flow in :/ But nonetheless I'm trying to keep up an acceptable pace n.n**

**Jason Shard: I'll certainly do, thanks to friendly folks like you that like my story! :D**

**SilverstormXD: I have a mixed idea about that one, not all lores are complete, nor all personalities are absolute, like in this one, Zyra isn't completely evil n.n There's more than one side to a personality :D Even the darkest souls can have a soft side, deep inside. And about that song, I listen mostly soundtracks from games and movies when I write n.n but it ranges from e.g. The Last of Us to Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm, so there is enough strength in the songs, still appreciate the recommendation anyway**

**Spartan odst 007: More chapters are coming, be sure n.n It would be kinda disappointing if it would end here, no? xd**

**Gumblewart: Hey there! :D But what's left here is just to say thank you once more, the rest has already been answered and talked about n.n**

**That's it for now, ADamnGoodName logging out. Have a nice day everyone :D**


	6. Sparks Come Together

**Hey, it's me again!^^ Another chapter to add to the story! :D What can I say more, I hope you enjoy this one as much as you did enjoy the previous ones, if you did n.n After all, that's the best thing I can achieve as writer of this story**

**Well, Riot, you're awesome and I own nothing from this story that is League-related, except for my OC's, etc copyright this, copyright that,...**

**As always, R&R if you want -would be awesome though- or write a PM if you feel like it or have questions or something, I dunno**

* * *

><p><strong>Sparks Come Together<strong>

She twitched when Hayden said her name out loud, but not as much as he thought she would. He figured she'd already more or less expected this. She turned around and looked at him, her crimson eyes narrowed suspiciously. As was the same as when he met Zyra, he was still taken aback when looking at her in real life, no matter how many times he had seen her in the game, this was just different.

Her platinum white hair, tinged with black stripes here and there. Her white eyebrows furrowed above the deep red pools that were her irises. Small freckles here and there adorned her tanned cheeks and her full lips that were slightly pressed together. The stripe of white war paint on her left cheek to cover up a scar. She was actually smaller than he expected her to be, but nonetheless impressing enough, with her tanned, hardened skin and her bandages, giving away a hard life. Riven was no longer an image, she was a real, young woman. He saw that she was scanning him, and her eyes darted over him, until her gaze fell on his left cheek. _Not again..._

Her eyes widened a bit, and he was sure she noticed the scar.

_This is getting annoying._

'Who are you?'

Again, he was surprised of her soft tone, he expected her to be rather harsh. _What now? Direct approach?_

'Someone that wants to help you. And needs your help.'

He hesitated for a second. He stepped forward.

'My name is Hayden, and I know you are Riven. The _real _Riven.'

Her gaze seemed unaffected, but she pursed her lips some more. He advanced a few steps more in her direction, but she quickly backed the same number of steps. He raised his hands in innocence.

'Relax. I just want to-'

-'You just want to stay right there. Once more, what do you want?'

'I already told you that. I need your help. And you will need ours.'

Her eyes narrowed at his last remark, and she clenched her fists.

'I don't need anyone's help! And what do you mean, ours?' she now gritted. He hesitated. The last thing he wanted now is angering the woman in front of him, who certainly was able to beat him up so hard he needed his bed for another week. With one hand on her back.

One hand still raised, he reached for something in his pocket. Riven took the opportunity to dart away some more. Out of his right pocket, he took one of the runes Zyra had carried with her, which were proven to be useless. He had taken one of them along to help convince Riven, and he hoped it would work. Hayden held up the imbued little rock so she could clearly see the small stone, with its odd, softly glowing runic symbols. Her right hand seemed to hover around restlessly, which intrigued him. She still held her body in a strained, defensive stance, but on her face, a look of curiosity had appeared.

'...How did you get that?'

-'You ask a lot of questions but I get nothing in return. Is it that difficult to trust me?'

'You, a complete stranger, appear out of nowhere, approach me and talk to me like you know me and waited for me or something, right when I ended up on a strange planet which looks like, but totally isn't, Runeterra . That makes it quite easy to trust you, no?' she ended sarcastically. He opened his mouth to respond, but knew she was right, so just responded;

'I received this from another Champion. Yes, it is a real rune.'

He held his hand outstretched and slowly, she relaxed a bit and took a few steps in his direction, however still eying him with a deep gaze. She reached into a pocket of her skirt and took out a similar rune and held it up in her open hand next to his. The runes responded to each other, both softly glowing more and humming silently.

'They are indeed the same...'

Riven shook her head in disbelief. She looked up to him with a fierce look.

'Who are these 'ours' you're talking about?'

-'If you allow me, I'll show you.' answered Hayden. She placed her hands on her hips and pulled up one brow, but said nothing. He took that as a yes and reached for his cellphone, after which he called Ellie. She responded quickly, and even before she could speak Hayden quickly said;

'Hey El, is Zyra still there?'

Riven's face turned into one of shock as he continued;

'Yeah, you won't believe it, but I actually found her...'

-'No fucking way!' Ellie shouted from the other end of the line.

'Yes fucking way, come see for yourself, I'm just a bit ahead of were you dropped me off.'

-'A little bit ahead. SO precise, I exactly know where to drive now.' she answered sarcastically.

'The second street to the right at the end of the avenue, then left, then another right, you be able to find us then.'

-'Wait a second, what the hell do you think you're doing? Who was that?' Riven barged in.

'That,'

Hayden ended the call and turned back to her, pocketing his cellphone.

'were my friend Ellie and Zyra.'

-'Bullshit.'

'Just wait a few more minutes and see for yourself for how much bullshit it is exactly.'

Riven narrowed her eyes again, but remained in place. She folded her arms over each other and looked at him with an untraceable gaze. Her blood coloured eyes were soft, but still had a shimmer in them that made him feel uncomfortable, as if he was guilty of something.

Slowly, the minutes ticked by, and Riven began;

'You know-'

But before she could even start her sentence, they heard a car approach. Not just one that merely passed by, as so many did, but it drove directly at them and stopped a few meters of them. Quickly, the driver's seat door slammed open and shut. He was surprised the door didn't hit off its hinges.

'Ellie, the door...'

-'Hush, Hay, your car is old enough for it.' the petite, brown haired girl answered. But then, gazed at Riven again, who visibly tensed up at Ellie looking at her. Ellie slowly approached her.

'Wauw...it's really you, Riven...'

-'Ehm,...yeah?' The white haired girl answered a bit taken aback and scared.

'Ellie, stop drooling over her...'

-'Ah, shut up, Hayden, and you go drool over Zyra some more.'

-'What did you say?' Zyra sharply whispered to her, while also stepping out of the car.

'Nothing.' Ellie smiled sheepishly. Zyra shot her a glare and then looked at Riven. The two women took each other on.

'So you're supposed to be Zyra?' Riven said with a hint of sarcasm. Zyra just smiled and softly nodded. Riven pressed her lips together and shot her a glare.

'I'm out.'

She turned around and wanted to walk away,but Hayden quickly grabbed her hand and tried to pull her back. She looked at him over her shoulder indifferently and just pulled her arm away, casually dragging him along with a surprised yelp from his side. Behind him, he heard Zyra laugh at the sight of him being dragged along like luggage.

'Don't try to overpower Riven, Hayden, she's way too strong.'

Upon hearing Zyra's voice, Riven stopped and turned around. She now looked at Zyra with renewed curiosity.

'Your voice...'

-'A bit more of a believer now, are we?' Zyra remarked dryly.

'Let's convince you in total...' she said, with the end of the sentence already echoing slightly. Her eyes turned into luminescent yellow again, and her teeth sharpened a bit. The petals flowered from her head again, replacing her ears. Vegetation returned to her face, but then the transformation halted.

'I'm not going to ruin these clothes, so I'm stopping here. I actually like them. It should be enough to convince you anyway. She said, the echo vibrating her words. Ellie twitched again ever so slightly, still not quite comfortable to Zyra's voice in real life. Riven let her arm drop and looked at her.

'Zyra...so you weren't lying...' she said, turning to Hayden.

'Glad you noticed.' he said, while crawling back up again.

'But what is this? How did we get here?' she asked, now directed at Zyra. She in return simply lifted her shoulders.

'No idea. That's why we went to search for you. Maybe you knew something. And the more Champions we gather, the more chance we have on finding a solution.'

-'We guess.' added Ellie.

Riven grimaced.

'Sorry, but I have no clue. So you can leave me alone again.'

-'Hell no we don't. We put quite some energy in searching for and finding you, so don't think you can just walk away!' shouted Ellie.

'Ellie, I don't think you should be so rou-'

-'Come with us!'

Hayden facepalmed. Riven's eyes narrowed again.

'Give me one reason I'd do that.' she growled defensively.

'Forget what that thing said, she doesn't get the concept of behavior every now and then.'

Ellie pouted at Zyra's words and crossed her arms.

'Look at it like this,' Zyra continued, while transforming her looks to fully human again.

'If you join us, that's already two Champions on the same spot at least. That, plus free food and sleep.'

Hayden who was waiting and just listening along, suddenly gasped.

'Wait, you mean, my house?'

-'Of course.'

Zyra looked at him like that was clear from the start already. Riven noticed his discomfort and immediately jumped on it.

'I have no intention of being a burden or being taken care of! I can perfectly take care of myself.'

She ended her sentence softly, but her eyes flared up in anger.

'You won't be a burden, nor will you be taken care of like a helpless baby.' Hayden answered, quickly trying to fix his mistake. The white haired woman still eyed him with suspicion, but Ellie added;

'At least you'll have some people to rely on then, and a place where you can be yourself. Look, even Zyra trusts us!'

She gestured at Zyra, who disapprovingly turned her head away, but nonetheless nodded. Riven seemed conflicted, but then let her shoulders drop and sighed. While looking down, she said surprisingly soft;

'For so long I've wandered...And now with the Institute gone... I don't want that ever again. So yes, I guess...'

She suddenly sounded very fragile, and Ellie made a move as if she wanted to rush to her, but was quickly pulled back and silenced by Zyra, who nodded at Hayden, knowing his calm way would comfort her more. He let his hand hand softly rest on Riven's shoulder, who twitched at his touch, but looked up, and he meant to see a genuine, soft smile on her face before they all drove "home".

_Hotel Hayden, just perfect._

He shook his head and decided just to roll with it. Besides, Riven seemed to have a soft personality, it couldn't be that bad.

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><p>Actually, it turned out to be not all that bad, having two -female- Champions living in. The first thing they did was restoring the living room to, well, a livable state, with the addition of a small bed, so that Zyra or Riven could have his bed, the other would sleep in the guest room and he would take the bed in the living room downstairs. And of course...<p>

'No way! I wont make you give up your bed and take this bed, so I could sleep upstairs!' Riven objected, her crimson eyes giving him a determined look.

'Yes way. If you necessarily refuse to take my bed, leave it for Zyra and take the bed in the guest room, but you're my guest here, so I'm giving you a suitable bed. And no, I don't want to hear any of it.'

Hayden raised his hand at Riven, who opened her mouth already to argue. Though slightly irritated, she accepted her fate. Then, she placed her hands on her hips and looked at him with the same, dedicated look.

'At least let me help you with something then, so I'm of some use.'

Zyra, who sat next to her, boredly looked her way.

'Can't you accept the fate you're just able to relax and do nothing?'

Riven shot her a deadly glare, at which Zyra just rolled her eyes.

'If you really want to help so dearly, you could perhaps help in the kitchen, I'm not quite used to cooking for three-'

-'You could make that four, if Ellie decides to barge in so much as I expect her to.' Zyra noted.

'Then I'll help you.' answered Riven gladly. Zyra laid down her upper body on the table and stretched her arms.

'You're unbelievable...'

Now it was Riven's turn to roll with her eyes.

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><p>'Riven, would you care to pass me that can?'<p>

A few weeks had passed, and everything seemed to work out pretty well, safe for getting Riven really relaxed, it seemed she needed a lot of time to feel comfortably, 'at home'. That, and futile attempts of stopping Ellie who passed by almost everyday to chatter and more specifically being a very energetic entity, although there were times that she was actually serious. And right now, Hayden and Riven had grown accustomed to the combined efforts in the kitchen.

They stood in the kitchen, working together, Riven simply passing him all the ingredients and doing prework like cutting onions, and him preparing the food. The faster he got everything, the faster the dinner was ready, no? At his request, Riven reached for the can he was gesturing at, but in the movement she hit the shelf the can was resting on. All the other cans on the shelf came rambling down with a metallic sound.

'Gods..' she mumbled, her cheeks rosing in embarrassment. That was one characteristic about her Hayden quickly discovered.

She was a bit clumsy.

It probably added to the fact she necessarily wanted to take care of herself, otherwise feeling like her clumsiness would make her a burden.

'Hush, it doesn't matter. It's just a couple of cans. The only thing that happened is that they got a good shake.'

He took over the cans Riven had collected and put them back, giving her a reassuring smile. The platinum haired girl gave him a half-heartedly, soft smile in return. Riven was so withdrawn, it seemed as if she was too shy to laugh or smile openly. It was so strange to him, that the hardened warrior she was could be so shy.

Hayden moved the now filled plates to the table in the living room where Zyra sat, caressing the vase with flowers that stood there, lost in thought.

_Again, so serene...Always when she is around plants, it seems._

'Zyra?'

She seemed to wake up from her daze and looked at him, yellow twinkles fainting in her eyes.

'Dinner is ready, so...' he continued, while placing the plates on the table.

'You don't take care of the plants in your home.' she said out of the blue.

'Look at these. They are limp and lifeless. They need more water, nourishments, and so on.'

-'Then why don't you take care of them? You know how to take care of plants best.'

Her eyes narrowed at his response.

'I'm not going to do something that is your responsibility!' she suddenly snapped. Before she could continue, Riven entered the room with a curious look on her face, at which Zyra shut her mouth. She did give him a stern glare, though. Taken aback by her snarly response, he also sat down and started eating.

Hayden knew she was protective of plants, that was in her nature, but he didn't expect such a hard response just because of some flowers in a vase. Moving on, he decided to ask Riven out over something that had been on his mind for a while.

'Hey Riven?'

The young woman looked up.

'Yes?'

-'I was wondering about something from the first moment I saw you.'

'Hmmm?' it now sounded, a bit more suspiciously.

-'How come you weren't suited in your normal battle armour, or at least carried it along with you?'

She pursed her lips and said;

'I wasn't involved in a match back then. I was outdoors, enjoying the sunset with Irelia, Janna and Karma. Save for my sword I had strapped to my back, I-I...just can't leave without it.'

She vaguely waved at the blade, that now adorned the kitchen table, humming every so often.

'And am I glad I did. If I didn't had my sword when I arrived here...'

-'Wait, you mean you weren't in game back then? That's impossible, at least _someone_ must've summoned you at that time!'

Zyra now laid down her cutlery and let her head rest on one of her palms.

'Again, you give notice of missing some braincells here and there.'

Still questioned, he turned his head to Zyra, who gave him a disapproving look.

'Think about it, how many people summon a certain Champion of the League at the same time?'

She didn't wait for his response and continued;

'That's right, more than enough I'd say. We can't split ourself up into the hundreds of copies, so to cope with that the Summoners created a system that creates 'avatars' for in-game use. These act as replacements of the real us, when we eat and sleep or, I don't know, deserve some free time? Save for fucked up Champions like Nocturne, they obviously don't get free time.'

-'Yep, that's how it works.' nodded Riven.

'We do have to attend important matches though, no matter the time.' she added wryly.

'Like the LCS?' Hayden asked.

'LC-what?' Riven answered, her eyes filled with curiosity.

'Is that a drug or something?' Zyra barged in, an eyebrow lifted in sarcasm, but nonetheless curious.

'No, it's-' began Hayden, but he was interrupted by an enthusiastic knocking on the back door.

'She's kinda resolute, isn't she?' Zyra said, stating everyone thoughts.

'...I suggest you go and open it, before you rams in the door. I see her capable of doing that.' she added.

'Great, one more to deal with...' he mumbled, raising from his chair and walking to the back door.

When he opened it, he faced a smiling Ellie.

'Can I come in?'

-'Would you think of me being able to let you just stand outside?' he smiled back.

'Great!' she said as she brushed past him. As he entered the living room she had already put herself down next to Riven, who still looked at her somewhat nervous. _Probably taken aback by her massive amount of energy..._

'Aren't you supposed to be eating now?'

-'I hoped you had some spare to share.' she smiled sheepishly. Zyra rolled her eyes at her response.

'See, _this_ is why I need help in the kitchen, Riven...' Hayden commented, pointing at the girl. Ellie immediately turned to her, which made her jump a bit in surprise.

'You can cook?'

-'Well, yes-I-I have been alone for quite some time, and, ehm, couldn't really pay for anything, so I had to, you know, learn it.' Riven stammered.

'What kind of things can you cook?' Ellie continued enthusiastically.

'Don't you dare barging in everyday just so you could eat something she has cooked...' Hayden said, coming back from kitchen and placing a bowl of soup in front of her. Ellie's look already gave away that he just stated her thoughts exactly. He sighed a bit.

'But,' he said, turning to Riven.

'you didn't mention you could prepare things yourself.'

-'You never asked me about it.' she responded dryly. Now, a smile adorned Hayden's face.

'I'd like to see what kind of things you would prepare...What about me being the assistant and you cook for us tomorrow?'

Riven's cheeks rose in embarrassment and it seemed if she gave Ellie a small glare for a split second.

'Yeah, that thing can be very annoying sometimes, can't she?' Zyra grinned. Ellie pouted at her comment and rolled her eyes dramatically.

And the conversations went on, as they talked throughout the evening, sometimes laughing with even Zyra along now, or rather Riven just smiling, which still bothered him, he wanted her to feel at easy and able to laugh like wanted to. And sometimes, the small bitch fights between Zyra and Ellie, who really seemed to make a habit out of it. Ellie suddenly noticed the time and uttered a small yelp. She gave him a look that told him more than enough.

'...Can I stay here for the night? I don't quite feel like going home...'

-'Seriously? I bought myself a bed, only for it to be taken away for another guest?'

Ellie face turned into a mischievous grin.

'You don't have to...Zyra can share your bed and then I sleep in your bedroom!'

-'Say what?' Zyra and Hayden said in unison, both of their cheeks rosing. At this sight, Riven giggled quite girlish, and quickly covered her mouth, surprised by her own action just now.

'What about you in this bed and me on the couch? I'm not breaking into someone's privacy like that.'

-'Relax, I'm just joking!' she smiled reassuringly. Although, as soon as Zyra turned her head for a second, Ellie quickly formed some words with her mouth.

_'You disappoint me...'_

Hayden just frowned and outed a small sigh. Riven eyed them both with a small smile and leaned forward to whisper something in Ellie's ear, who nodded with the same, small but knowing smile. He hissed a bit in annoyance and moved to the kitchen to do the dishes.

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><p>When he came back, Zyra and Riven were gone, upstairs probably, but more noticeably he found Ellie putting on her jacket.<p>

'I thought you wanted to stay over for the night?'

-'Nah, I just wanted to see the response of you guys.' she smiled. She quickly gave him a hug and went to walk to the back door. But before she exited, she turned around more time.

'Oh, and Riven noticed it too.' she winked, after which she exited the house, laughing out loud at his reddening face.

He waited until he heard the sound of her car disappear, and then walked to the bed, letting himself fall down on it. He let his thoughts roam free as Ellie's words resonated in his head.

_Do I like her? _He ruffled his hair, his thoughts astray. He went over the days past, how she had let him wonder if this was really the evil Zyra, in her reactions and behaviour. _Perhaps her unexpected personality had stirred something? Not to mention her body... _Hayden rolled over to the other side, images from how she looked like flashing through his head, her body features, that hourglass-shaped figure, with those-He shook his head to get the thoughts out, slightly embarrassed about what he was thinking about. _But then again, she wasn't even completely human, after all. _On the other hand, her beauty seemed undeniable.. For him at least_._ He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, conflicted by his own thoughts.

_Talking about Zyra... the plants..._

He got up from the bed and walked up to the table, where a small watering can and a sack of nourishments stood next to the vase of flowers. Because of Zyra's remark, he remembered he still had the nourishments in his basement. He was about to water the flowers when he suddenly heard footsteps on the stairs, it seemed Zyra or Riven came down again.

It was Zyra who entered the room, and once more he was kinda surprised at her inattention for possibly awkward situations. She was solemnly clad in a towel, covering her from chest down to her upper legs, her red, green striped hair, still drying, hanging over her shoulders in spiking strands. She looked at him in satisfied surprise, seeing he was taking care of the flowers. However, she remained silent.

'...Yes?' he asked, after she didn't act for some moments.

'First, both Riven and me are done showering, so if you want, your turn.'

She gestured upstairs to illustrate her point and he nodded.

'And second?'

This time, she sighed a bit and took a few steps in his direction, her eyes moved to the side and head lowered a bit, clearly not at ease. Then, she took a deep breath and said;

'Why do you do this, Hayden? To take us in? Me? I know I have asked this before...' she said, slowly walking around.

'..But I can't figure it out. That you take in Riven, okay, perhaps. You may not know it, but she has one of the sweetest personalities in the whole League. But why me? I'm dangerous, corrupted, I'm not even human in a way...'

She now stopped in front of him.

'What have I done to you, to deserve this? I only brought you pain, ruin, poison, scars, a barely avoided death.'

She know stood close enough for him to smell her vivid breath again, it seemed to really fill the air. She looked directly at him now, her blue eyes filled with yellow shards, almost like tears.

'Why me?'

For the first time, a different emotion than the trademark cold, sarcastic tone or the occasional embarrassment resonated through her voice.

Sadness. Sorrow, loneliness, he couldn't lay his finger on it. She sounded broken. She finally outed the thing that pressed her mind for all this time, that tormented her.

He wasn't really able to say something, he wanted to sooth her, calm her, but he couldn't find any words.

'I...Because I know you are more than just the...evil Zyra everyone knows. As soon as you saved me, it became clear to me that there was a person below that surface that is worth discovering. You are more than you think of yourself, Zyra.'

As soon as he started, the words came flowing out, and he actually said exactly what he felt, what he wanted to say.

She had no response, but just kept her gaze fixed on his, the yellow drops in her eyes glowing again. Slowly, she leaned closer, and he was frozen in place, not able to do anything, although his mind screamed to respond to her as well.  
>And then, he felt an outburst of emotions, as he felt her lips slightly touch his. Lost in the moment, he felt only her lips, smelled only her fresh breath, touched only her soft skin. For a moment, there were only Zyra and him in the world, alone but together. But then suddenly came a loud noise from upstairs, probably Riven who moved something in the guest room, and broke the small bit of bliss. The sound seemed to wake up Zyra from her haze, and she looked at him in pure confusion, her eyes evenly filled with tears as drops of yellow.<p>

More conflicted than she ever was, she shook her head and quickly went upstairs. She left Hayden evenly confused and conflicted, made worse because he had that moment of emotional internal war before she came down. He slightly brushed his lips with his hand, still feeling the ghost of her lips touching his. Also shaking his head, he went to bed, trying to give his mind some rest.

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><p>A while later, when Hayden was sleeping already, a figure came downstairs again. Zyra slowly walked up to his bed and eyed him with red, tired eyes of confused crying. She then turned to the table, where the watering can and the sack of nourishments still stood, next to the vase. She took up the vase and placed it on the nightstand next to his bed. Leaning down, she caressed the flowers with her hand. Under her touch, the flowers came back to life, blooming brighter than ever. She rose again and looked at the sleeping Hayden for a while, a small smile reappearing on her face.<p>

'Sweet dreams, Hayden...' she softly whispered before returning to her room.

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><p><strong>That was it for this chapter, hope you liked it ^^<strong>  
><strong>Once more, I appreciate every comment so much:D<strong>

**Charvx**: **You have some interesting theories there, dude :D Imagine if we would co-write something, strange things would happen xd But to go in on your theory, I first considered some of these things myself, but then I went over the fact that she has been human for a while now, and has adapted to it, although she sometimes can have her still "strange" behaviour**

**Antropomancy: Thanks for liking the idea n.n and about updating, sorry, but I prefer quality over quantity, better one good chapter than ten loosely and uncoherent chapters :c and lastly, fuck you with that SPAMSPAM xd**

**Croziff:Thank you, and I certainly won't, wouldn't want to leave my own story alone and dying :o As long as the ideas keep coming, so long will the story grow n.n**

**Freak666chaos: Well, I already answered your questions, so I'd better not repeat them here in case I accidentally might let something slip now again xd**

**Jason Shard: Thank you, and will do ^^**

**Guest: I certainly will, and I LOVE YOU TOO FOR LIKING, in a way, I guess**

**SilverstormXD: I checked it out and it was good, but with soundtrack I mean the actual original written score for a movie or game, for example, listen to 'Heart of the Swarm' from the Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm OST, then you'll know what i mean n.n**

**the Chazz: 50% good try, 50% get out, I know where to find you my bro :p**

**ADamnGoodName out**


	7. Lost in Translation

**Hello everyone! n.n Here's a new chapter, and along with this one, I'm gonna say a little common thing for the story in its whole. I heard from a few people that they're wondering whether there'll ever be some action, it's just that I'm letting the story progress slowly, in my opinion it's better to have some more depth than immediately go for action. Okay, that was the little sidenote, so no worries, there will be action further on.**

**Credits to Riot once again for their awesome game and characters :D and credits to all my betareaders that are doing their best and help me a lot n.n and last but not least, thanks to all the people who comment, fav or follow, or read in common n.n**

**Well, enjoy the chapter, if you like it, fav and/or follow and if you have anything to comment or ask, leave a comment or send a pm^^ Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>Lost in Translation<strong>

Sunlight crept through the curtains and woke Hayden from a deep sleep. Rubbing his eyes, he noticed the vase filled with now beautiful flowers.

_Zyra..._

Remembering the event of last evening, he shook his head and pressed his temples, letting his head rest on his hands. Nonetheless, he couldn't help but smile a little bit. He heard a sound in the kitchen, and stood up to see who was there. Once in the kitchen, he found Riven there, making some sandwiches. She looked up at him in surprise.

'Did I wake you up? Because I didn't want to-'

-'No no, I was awake already when the sound lured me to the kitchen.'

Riven uttered a small sigh of relief.

'Talking about noise, what did you do yesterday that made such noise?'

At this, Riven's cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

'I-I fell out of the bed...' she said in a tiny voice. Hayden couldn't help but laugh, which made the young woman's face turn into a deeper shade of red.

'Don't mind it, as if I've never stumbled out of bed before. You're certainly not the only one, Riven.' he smiled.

'Hmm..' she mumbled.

Then, she took one of the sandwiches she had been preparing and handed it to him, who gladly accepted it and took seat. After a few bits, he wondered about something.

'Say, where's Zyra?'

Riven lifted her shoulders.

'When I woke up, everything was silent and up till now, I haven't heard anything, save for you entering the kitchen. Guess she's still asleep.'

He nodded, sinking away in thoughts again.

But even after a few hours, there was no sign of Zyra, and Riven went outside to practice with her sword. He told her the sword would be _slightly_ less useful here, but she simply answered that she would do it to keep in shape then. With Riven outside, there was nothing to do, and he pondered about the possibility of Zyra not _wanting_ to leave her room. A bit worried, he decided a small look wouldn't hurt and walked up to her -his- room. He softly knocked on the door.

'Zyra? Are you awake?'

No response.

He waited a few minutes and asked the question again.

Again, no response.

Now a bit more firm, he said;

'I'm coming in, okay?'

If she was asleep he could leave anyway, he figured. Slowly, he opened the door. Inside, the curtains were still closed and he saw the figure of Zyra under the blankets, motionless.

_Maybe she's really still asleep..._

But somehow he felt she wasn't.

'Zyra?' he tried once more. Upon hearing her name, her breathing suddenly intensified, giving out a huge sigh.

'I know you're not asleep, Zyra.'

She took a deep breath and pulled the covers over her some more.

'What do you want?'

She sounded a bit harsh, but also gasping, as if she had trouble speaking.

'I just want you to come and live, or at least eat something. With us.'

He halted for a bit, waging if he should say it, but then hesitatingly said;

'...With me.'

She twitched at his last sentence and took a deep breath once more.

'Go away, Hayden.' she now said bluntly. He was a bit surprised by the cold tone in her voice, but decided to press on after a few moments.

'...Is it yesterday evening that troubles you?'

She now froze, and he could almost feel her pressing her eyes shut.

'Go. Away.' she growled raspy.

Hayden knew he shouldn't go any further and left the room, softly closing the door.

As soon as she heard his footsteps fading on the staircase, she finally moved and threw her face into her cushion, confused tears wetting the tissue as they slowly ran down her face.

Eventually, Zyra came down after all, probably because she couldn't contain her hunger anymore. However, as soon as his eyes met hers, she quickly turned away and walked to the kitchen. He just stood there, left behind, looking at her walking away. At long last, he finally turned around as well, walking away. As he disappeared in the opposite direction, she looked at him over her shoulder with a longing sadness and turned down her face.

He waited for a few moments, but it seemed she decided not to show up again after all, so he figured he could as well take a look at Riven exercising. And he couldn't deny he was very curious to see how she was doing it.

* * *

><p>Once outside, he silently sneaked to a comfortable spot, out of her vision, to not distract her. First, she just stood there, completely still and relaxed, her sword loosely hanging in her right hand. She had her eyes closed and filled her lungs in a deep breath. At the same time, she seemed to gather energy, because her blade started to flicker. Unintentionally, he brushed over his scar, seeing the similar, inconsistent glow.<p>

Now, Riven opened her eyes again and strengthened her grip on the blade. She then started to slowly dance around, like Karma did, but just with slight differences, balancing differently and always centering her attention and the movement on the broken weapon in her hand. The entire time she kept her gaze on the blade, focused. Suddenly, she stopped and began an unexpectedly fast series of swift strikes, reminding him of her 'Broken Wings' ability, similarly uttering short, powerful yells.

These strikes however, were faster, more directed and she seemed to throw in different moves, like a pair of swift, horizontal strikes, or a three hundred and sixty degrees spin. He saw the broken blade crashing down on the ground every now and then, forcefully wiping up clods of grass. _Aw well, guess I can just replant that grass...and those bushes...flowers..._

Now she was also dashing back and forth in different directions _And that's Valor..._, jumping around in the process. It was fascinating to see in a way, but also discouraging, since he knew he would never reach that level of physical standards.

No wonder she easily dragged him along back when they first met. He noticed she had stopped moving and crashed down her sword in one, heavy swing, while he saw an runic aura emerging from her. _Ki burst...so that means up next is..._

Her sword seemed to have gathered energy in the process, shining brighter with each movement. She halted and he saw her lips moving, but couldn't exactly hear what she muttered. He knew what was about to happen, but it struck him with awe nonetheless when he saw the shattered sword gather all its fragments, reforming to the once massive blade.

And now it was even more clear why she was so strong, she handled the blade, bigger than herself, with as much ease as its broken counterpart. With a final yell, she slashed forward, a massive, green shockwave piercing the air in a broad angle in front of her. He had seen her using the Wind Slash technique in real life just here and now. _I think my life is partly complete now..._

She now let her sword hang at her side while taking some deep breaths, eyes closed. An idea appeared in his head, and along with it, a smile on his face. Hayden started clapping at her impressive training performance, and as soon as she saw him cheering, her cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

Grinning, because he knew her reaction would be like that, he raised from his place and walked up to her.

'Seeing that in real life is ten times more awesome than on screen! At least. Could you teach me how to do that sometimes perhaps?'

To this, she returned the grin and said;

'Then you should first exercise a lot, I'm afraid.'

She handed him the handle of her broken sword. With big eyes because he could actually touch the sword of the _real_ Riven, he carefully took Riven's sword in his hand and lifted it from her hands. The 'lifting' part lasted no longer than a split-second, though. As soon as the full weight of the heavy stone reached his muscles, his arm gave in and the sword dragged him down to the ground, while he heard Riven laugh above him. While he looked up to her in mixed amazement and anger, she smiled and sat down opposite of him.

'How can you work with such a heavy sword...'

-'Practice and- no, forget that, forced practice. It's called the army.' she said with a slightly wry expression.

'You didn't like it there or...?' asked Hayden, while he plopped himself down on the grass as well. Riven looked down in doubt and answered without looking up;

'No, I did, but I wanted to be in the army to achieve the strength and respect I desired, and later on, to spread the ideas I believed in, and create a better Noxus for everyone, but...'

He was very unsure whether he should go through on this one, since it seemed to be a rather painful part of her past, but eventually, he brushed it aside, she would let him know when he went to far.

'...But?'

She looked up again and he could see a hint of sadness in her blood red irises.

'But reality kicked in. Betrayal. Pure, cold-hearted mass destruction, not caring about anything or anyone, as long as the enemy could be defeated... The soldiers under my command were all fierce fighters, each and everyone brave in their own way. The Ionians were opponents that demanderd respect, with their rich culture and proud way of fighting. But no. Everything and Everyone was wiped way for the sake of victory. And I remained, alone, scarred and stained.'

She clenched her fist at her own words.

'I shouldn't have been the one that survived...' she whispered, shaking her head. Riven opened her hands again and went over the bandages of her left arm with her right hand, softly brushing the fabric.

'I-I'm sorry if I brought up bad memories or made you feel-' Hayden began, but Riven raised her hand and looked right at him. Her eyes stood soft as she said;

'No, it's nothing, Hayden. Back at the Institute I learned that difficulties are easier to overcome with than without friends... I trust you, Hayden, and I make no problems of telling you these things.' she ended with a small, yet genuine smile. That answer left him a bit speechless. Here he was, a normal student without any special traits, conversing with Riven, the Exile about her troubled past without problems...as friends. It made him feel warm inside.

'I wish I had something special to share with you as well...'

Riven shook her head in disagreement and eyed him with her typical gaze.

'Sometimes listening can be enough too, Hayden. Silence captures words, makes you listen. And there is something special, you just don't know it yet...' she continued with a knowing smile. Riven stretched a bit and wanted to take up her sword again, but she suddenly halted when she saw the blade, laying next to Hayden, glowing slightly. She frowned a bit and seemed to ponder for a second. Then, she looked at him and slowly back to the blade. Before Hayden could ask anything about her strange behavior, she said;

'Hayden, can you take my sword once more?'

Still wondering, he reached for the weapon and clenched his fists around the handle again.

'Place it on your lap or something, so that you can have the full sword in your hands.'

Lifting his eyebrows, he pulled the sword to him with all the strenght he had and placed it on his lap as asked. She straightened herself again and looked at him directly, a soft expression flowing from her red eyes.'

'Care for some meditation?'

Now he lifted both of his eyebrows by the random question that just came out of the blue.

'You said you wanted to learn how to fight once, and this is a good first step.' she went on.

A bit confused, but yet intrigued, he nodded.

'Good. Now then...place your hands on your lap.'

-'But the-'

'On the weapon.'

Again, he did as asked, curious for what would follow.

'I feel like some kind of guru now.' Riven giggled slightly. 'Back to the case... Close your eyes and listen to the beating of your hearth. Catch the rhythm, and try to send the pulses forth through the sword, and the rest will follow.'

_This is getting weirder and weirder by the moment..._

Nonetheless, he did as was asked. He shut himself off from the outer world to the best he could manage. After a few minutes of black the chirping birds disappeared from his mind. Pure, empty blackness remained, like a void inside of himself. Then, it was there. Slow, steady and deep, the beating of his heart. The waves of blood rushing through his veins. He tried to capture the rhythm and adapting his rhythm of mind to it, but that was exactly as difficult as it had sounded. But eventually, he caught on to it and tried to send it through his hands, and that part went surprisingly well. After a while, he felt something else.

The sword.

It was responding, sending its own beats back, remaining in a slow, mesmerizing rhythm. He slowly felt himself sink deeper and deeper in his own mind...

On the outside, Riven watched with keen interest how the sword acted in Hayden's hands. Every time Hayden's scar lit up, the sword would respond by giving off a small pulse of green pulse, like two hearts beating, forming a rhythm. But the interesting part was that as soon that the weapon started giving of its light, his scar had responded, creating the tag-like play of sword and scar. Frowning a bit, she continued to view the odd situation in front of her.

Hayden woke up as he felt something tug from the outside. A voice pierced through his consciousness, and although soft, the sound rampaged in his head like a howling yell after the stasis completely void of sound. He opened his eyes and faced Riven, who now took the sword from his lap. A bit dazed, he asked;

'How long have I been sitting here?'

-'Around a good ten, fifteen minutes.' answered Riven, already standing up and starting her slow dance with the blade again. He shook his head and started to walk to the house.

'Next time, do that right before I go to bed. I'm so drowsy now...'

-'Don't worry, it'll wear off after a minute or two.' Riven smiled. He rubbed his eyes a bit and waved to Riven before entering the house again, leaving her to train in solitude.

* * *

><p>As Riven had predicted, the drowsiness faded away over a few minutes. Now, he sat down on his bed, his mind wandering off again. Back to Zyra...<p>

_Have I reacted wrong yesterday? Today? Did I do something wrong in general?_

He fiercely shook his head in helplessness and ruffled his hair, leaving it standing in messy, spiky strands of black.

He just sat there for a while, not knowing what to do, nor noticing Riven entering the room, until she started to giggle at the sight of his hair. He woke up from his daydreaming and looked at her.

'Yes?' he said, noticing she wanted to ask something. Riven pulled up her eyebrows by his tone, but nonetheless replied;

'Can I take a shower? The exercises left me a bit...sweaty.'

Her cheeks flushed a bit again when she said that and Hayden's facial expression turned into a surprised one.

'Sure? You don't have to ask for that, you know. You didn't ask for it yesterday either, and did you hear me complain?'

Her eyes lit up a bit as she recalled last evening.

'Oh yes! Sorry..., I mean, everything was so loose, and I-'

-'Riven, please. If I would be your guest, would you deny me a shower?'

'Well, no, but...'

She halted her sentence when Hayden looked at her with a does-it-finally-get-through?-look. He raised his arm and gestured at the stairs.

'Well then? Come on, Riven, do as you please. You look like a little sister who's afraid to ask something from her older brother.' he teased.

'Well...how old are you?' she unexpectedly asked.

'I'm 24, Riven, I can't be that much older than you.'

She pouted a bit and then started to walk up the stairs. Hayden lifted an eyebrow and shouted after her;

'Why the sudden coorperation?'

-'I'm 24 as well!' she yelled back, defeated. He grinned and let himself fall down on the bed again.

_Defeated a Noxian... Gotta remember that one._

Throughout the day, Zyra had been carefully avoiding him, walking in the garden most of the time, or disappearing into her room. She even made sure she didn't eat at the same time as them, leaving both wondering.

'What's gotten into her?' Riven asked while they were having dinner. Although Hayden certainly had an idea of what had gotten into her, he shook his head in ignorance.

This went on for a few days, leaving him and Riven the time to get to know each other better, since they were more or less alone in the house now. With joy he saw that she was finally getting a bit more relaxed, feeling more at home perhaps. When she laughed now, it was a heartfull, warm laugh, and although softer than he had expected, it wasn't the held back smile from first. He had also made sure Ellie wouldn't randomly barge in...

_Three days earlier..._

'Hey El?' he said through the line, calling her. At the other side, Ellie responded.

'Yes?'

-'Try to not randomly enter the house for the upcoming house, can you do that?'

'Why...?' it sounded suspiciously.

-'We went out shopping -yes, all three of us- to get some groceries and stuff, you know, and somehow Zyra caught a nasty flu, and I already have enough trouble getting the two of us here not infected, let alone you would walk in the entire time.'

It was a poor attempt, but he hoped she'd take the bait.

'Well...okay. But say her I wish her to get better soon!'

-'Will do. See you as soon as possible, Ellie.'

'You better do that, yeah. Well, bye!'

She sounded a bit more optimistic when she broke the connection, and he laid down the phone with a small smile of success.

* * *

><p><em>Present<em>

When he was doing the dishes, he suddenly heard Riven's voice from behind him.

'Hayden, what is this all about?'

Riven, who stood leaning against the door frame of the kitchen, looked at him with her arms crossed.

'First, Zyra completely isolates herself, then you exclude Ellie from this, and now Zyra is still avoiding us.'

-'I don't want Ellie to get involved in this. She would only try to help, but in her own, chaotic way, which wouldn't fix that much. I think.' he said, looking down.

Riven eyed him with her almost trademark look, her crimson eyes filled with an untraceable gaze. Every time she did that, he felt like he was screened.

'You only answered a part of my question. What is going on here, Hayden? Did something happen that same night I stumbled out of bed?'

He bit his lips, trying to come up with something. The short pause was enough for Riven.

'So something _did_ happen.' she simply deducted.

'Come on Hayden, if you want to solve this, just _talking_ will help already.'

He sighed and looked up at her.

'Yes...something went wrong. I mean something didn't went wrong! Ehm, just...Zyra took it in a wrong way.'

-'Something that went wrong didn't went wrong?' she smiled mischievously. Hayden's face flushed and he stammered;

'It's just that-It...didn't went wrong...' he mumbled. Riven lifted an eyebrow in sarcasm.

'Your description of the situation is so accurate that I don't even get it.'

She walked him down and looked up, locking him down with her gaze.

'What happened between you and Zyra?'

He tried, but couldn't compete with her fierce, crimson eyes staring him down. Right when he was about to answer something, Zyra suddenly entered the kitchen.

'Listen, Hayden, I-'

She halted when she saw the somewhat funny situation in front of her. The quite some smaller, white haired woman standing in front of Hayden, up till a second ago holding an intense gaze on him, while the latter was rather held in her gaze. She blinked once and then firmly walked out of the room.

'Shit.' growled Hayden. Riven, who looked at Zyra when she entered, turned back to him with a surprised look.

'What is-'

Hayden cut her off and quickly walked past her.

'Sorry, I have to follow her now that she finally talks!'

And after those words, he left in Zyra's wake. Riven just watched Hayden walking away, placing her hand against her forehead and shook her head while sighing.

'Zyra!'

Upstairs, he finally caught up with Zyra. She halted and turned around glaring at him.

'What do you want?'

-'What do I want?' he answered, slowly approaching.

'What do _you _want? You keep avoiding me, while I did nothing wrong!'

He now stood in front of her, and continued softly;

'And you did nothing wrong either.'  
>To this, Zyra pursed her lips, but her eyes were filled with confusion and anger.<p>

'Is it that evening that bothers you?'

She gasped a bit and bit her lip, her eyes unsteady, like she had difficulties to focus her irises on one spot, thoughts raging within her. _Hit the spot. _

'Please, Zyra, tell me what it is, so I can at least try to help...'

She made a move as if she wanted to walk up to him, but then resolutely forced herself back, turning her head away, her eyes squeezed shut.

'You can't help me, no one can!' she said, almost growling, clenching her fists. 'Especially not you...' she ended softly. Suddenly, it came to him.

It was doubt. The doubt that had consumed her all this time. He slowly walked up to her and wanted to take her hand, while saying;

'You don't need to run away from your feelings, if that's what's been bothering you. It will only twist your mind and consume you. Just-'

He stopped his words when she slapped him in the face, the hit so strong it resonated through the room.

'Don't you teach me like I don't know anything!' she hissed, tears welling up in her eyes.

'Why don't you go back to Riven and go cuddle up with her some more!'

-'Wait, do you really think that-'

She cut him off with a stern gesture of her hand, shook her head and turned around, about to walk away again.

Now, his emotions took over before his mind could even notice it. Not hesitating, he grabbed her hand and turned her around. Before she couldn't do anything but give him a surprised look, he already reached for her and gave her a kiss on her soft lips. Tender, but still strong enough to not let her turn her head away immediately. She was paralyzed for a moment, but then he felt her returning the kiss.

For a moment, time seemed to slow down, as long as he felt her lips touching his. Finally, he broke the kiss, looked at her again and saw a face full of confusion and tears. She was frozen in place for a second, but then threw herself against him, burying her face in his shirt and gripping it tight. He felt her shake and sob, pressing herself against him.

'Why?' she almost cried, overwhelmed by her emotions.

'Why do you make me feel this way? I've never... Someone who...How-'

Her voice got caught in her throat and faded away. He slowly embraced her and held her tight, feeling her shaking, warm body against him, her tears wetting his T-shirt.

'Calm down, Zyra, it's all okay...' he hushed, still embracing her.

She lifted her head, her irises yellow again, the surrounding white of her eyes red because of all the tears that still ran down her face.

'I've never felt like...How could I? How can you...'

Keeping silent, he softly wiped away some tears from her face.

'I can, because you aren't the same person you once were, back then. I love you for who you are now, Zyra. Not who you have been.'

Zyra, who still held onto him tight, laid her head on his shoulder again, her chest slowly rising and sinking, still taking deep breaths. He heard her mumble something, barely audible.

'Hmm?'

-'I love you...' she said, again impossibly silent. He tilted her head, trying to capture her words. Bending forwards towards her a bit, he said;

Look, you really don't have to be afraid to say what-'

Before he could continue, Zyra reached for him and gave him a deep, long kiss. When she finally leaned back, she looked at him with yellow orbs dancing in her eyes like fireflies around a fire.

'I said I love you,...I'm afraid...'

Hayden smiled and embraced her again.

'I guess I don't need to say anymore I love you too?' he smiled, while he held her still shaking body against him for as long as it took to get her calmed down. When she had finally calmed down again, she looked at him, wiping a strand of hair out of her face. After a short silence, she spoke up.

'And now?'

Hayden lifted his shoulders and said half-heartedly;

'Go on just like it always had been? I'd rather not have you avoiding me again.'

She give him a small smile.

'But what if they...notice?'

Now, Hayden gave her a smile in return and placed his arm around her shoulders, softly leading her out of the room.

'You don't have to be afraid of showing feelings, Zyra, I said that already. And what's more, they'll notice anyway, sooner or later.'

-'Hmmm...'

She softly leaned against him again while they exited the room.

Back downstairs again, entering the living room, he saw Riven sitting on the bed, probably waiting for his return. When Zyra entered the room after him, she lifted her eyebrows.

'Finally decided to not completely avoid us?' she said in a tone dripping with sarcasm. Zyra looked to the side a bit.

'...Sorry.'

Riven's eyes turned soft and she raised from the bed. She walked up to Zyra and eyed her.

'Well, I didn't expect you of all people to say sorry like that.'

She smiled knowingly at her and half whispered;

'Zyra, the gentle little plant...How the world can change...'

Zyra pouted but didn't respond, while Riven laughed and walked to the kitchen.

* * *

><p>Later, when they were having soup as dinner, Riven suddenly laid down her spoon and looked at them both. She placed her head on the palms of her hands and smiled mischievously.<p>

'Soo...How was it, finally showing your true feelings?'

Hayden choked on the spoonful of soup he had just put in his mouth, while Zyra's cheeks flushed in a deep red, almost as bright as the colour of her hair. Riven's smile grew wider at their reactions and remained silent, waiting for a response. Zyra buried her face in her hands, while Hayden had a guilty smile on his face.

'How did you know?'

-'You didn't notice, but in the last few days when she was ignoring you, she was looking at you with a sad, longing expression. Making sure you didn't see it, of course. And that night that she suddenly came down downstairs again, without real reason, not very suspicious, no? During the days before that, the looks you unconsciously exchanged... Do I need to go on?'

Riven smiled amused, while turning to Zyra.

'Well Zyra, I must say you are one of the few ones I didn't expect to happen to. I'd rather would've seen the cold, introvert Diana have a relationship than you. How?'

Zyra moved her hands to support her head, her face still red.

'I...I don't know...I still can't even understand it myself, I've never felt like-I mean...how...this...'

She shook her head and looked back down again.

'I knew this was going to happen sooner or later.' she said, her typical soft smile showing again.

'As did Ellie.'

Zyra suddenly lifted her head.

'Don't tell me you told that thing that-'

-'No.' Riven sounded surprisingly harsh, but she continued softly;

'Everyone's feelings and experiences are for their own to share...or not.'

Her right hand softly ran down the tissue of bandages of her left arm, lost in thought for a moment. She seemed to shrug something off, and the light reappeared in her eyes. She turned back to Hayden and Zyra, who were watching carefully. But she just smiled and said;

'By the way, you can expect Ellie to barge in at random moments again, so be prepared...'

-'Don't tell me you called her.'

'I _so_ did.' answered Riven, small twinkles dancing in her eyes. Hayden sighed deeply.

'You know, you were one of the persons I didn't expect to do such things.' he said, arms crossed, pretending to be stern. Riven gave him a small, warm smile in return.

'Moving on...'  
>She leaned back a bit and now looked at him again with more seriousness.<p>

'How are we going to find the others now? You said we should gather more, but how will you do it? How did you find me?'

-'Purely by accident, actually. We were shopping for clothes when I came across a few cosplay fanatics who somehow got a picture of you. From the moment I saw it, I knew it was the real you, so I asked for the location, we went there, and then it got even more random. We chose random places to search for you, and I stumbled across you. Although...'

'Although what?'

Hayden seemed to hesitate a bit, fumbling with his fingers.

'Don't laugh...but my scar seemed to point me the way to where you were.'

-'What?' said Zyra suddenly.

'You never told us that.' she continued.

-'I was a bit held back to tell it, since it seems so strange...'

'Strange? You are walking around with a fucking purplish glowing scar, surrounded by two Champions of the League, and you call that strange? Hell no, that's viable information!'

Hayden tilted his head a bit.

'Why would that be viable information?'

-'Did it only glow when you were walking in the direction of Riven?'

'No, it just flickered like normally when I was walking around, but it kept glowing consistently when I walked in her direction.'

Zyra remained silent after that, thinking. Riven, who was just watching from the side, suddenly lifted her eyebrows, remembering something. She gestured at Zyra to come closer and started a fast conversation in a strange, somewhat melodic language. He later learned this was the Common Tongue of Valoran, which is taught to all Champions and Summoners who enter the League, next to English, to smoothen communication both on and off the Rift. However, he was quickly able to make out it concerned his scar, as Riven motioned at her left cheek, at which Zyra gestured at her fingers for some reason. They seemed to have ended the quick talk and turned to him.

'Sorry about that.' Zyra started.

'But we have to check some things now.'

Zyra nodded at Riven, who exited the room. Raising an eyebrow at their behaviour, Hayden was about to ask how and what, but Zyra was faster.

'Here, grab my hands.'

Her hands were resting midst in between them, her arms half-stretched, the palms of her hands facing upwards. Curious, he took her hands in a soft grip. Noticing how how soft and tender her answering grip was, he looked up, and saw a faint blush appearing on her face when she noticed he was watching.  
><em>Really? Just from taking my hands? She was just so juvenile with this, so cute.<em>

'Okay, I'm going to channel some magic through it, so ignore the odd feeling as much as you can.'

After those words, he felt her hands giving off a strange aura, and next he experienced the strangest feeling up to date. It was as if jolts of electricity were sent through her hands, but instead of the normal shocks, he felt an irresistible itch, which he couldn't relieve himself from. While this was going on, Riven entered the room again, now carrying her sword. At the sight of Zyra's faint, fading blush, she smiled, and resisted the urge to laugh, causing a light giggle and Zyra's blush to return. After a few seconds, she stopped, and gestured at Riven.

'Your turn.'

Riven nodded and switched places with Zyra, now sitting in front of him with her sword on her lap. Without saying anything, she handed him the handle of her sword again, and for the second time today he was able to take Riven's blade in his hands.

'Sorry, but what no-'

-'I'm going to charge my blade now, sending you some of my kind of "magic", to see how you respond. Or that's the idea.' answered Riven before he could finish. With the handle in his hands and the blade resting on her lap, she placed her hands on the rune-covered steel. She closed her eyes, and for a second, nothing seemed to change, but then the runic symbols started to glow in their typical green glow. A genuine, warm smile now showed on Riven's face, to which the sword seemed to respond to, glowing brighter. This time, it wasn't an itch, but a warm feeling, like he was sitting next to a fireplace and warming his hands. This kept going for a while, until...

'You can stop now, Riven.' Zyra said with a hint of tease.

Riven was startled out of her almost meditation-like trance, the blade's glow extinguishing together with her concentration.

'S-Sorry...' she mumbled, slightly embarrassed.

'You have a deep bond with your sword...' Hayden said, brushing over his scar. 'I could feel it.'

Riven caressed her sword, the runes glowing under her fingers.

'Yes...

Zyra walked over to the table and sat down. Then, she straightened and crossed her arms, placing them on the plat of the table.

'Well...you can consider yourself indeed a Haddy whatever, what you and Lily called it, because your scar does hold some abilities.'

Hayden's eyes grew wide in surprise and behind him, Riven leaned closer with an intrigued look on her face.

'It responds to other aura's, that's why I figured, if you would ask how I know that.' she added, when Hayden opened his mouth to say something.

'And I'm going to try and awaken whatever power there is within you.' Zyra said now, determined. Riven, who had put down her sword again, looked at her.

'How would you do that? It's not really like he can control any abilities involving magic.'

She glanced at him sideways.

'No offence.'

Hayden raised his hands.

'Hey, you're right on that one, no probs.'

Zyra on her turn began once more;

'Didn't you notice it when I was channeling magic through his hands? Not only his scar responded. It was just a faint glow, but I want to check that. I have an idea what it could be, but I'll be right back.'

With those words, she disappeared upstairs. Hayden turned his vision to Riven with a questioned look on his face, but she just returned his look, lifting her shoulders a bit.

Zyra emerged from upstairs after a minute or so, now back in her form as everyone knew her, roots adorning her arms, leaves minimally covering her chest. Now on heels again, she was taller than Riven by a head length. Without exchanging anything but a quick look, Riven and her exchanged places again, now it was her again sitting in front of him.

'I'm going to channel different amounts of magic through to you now, and in this form I can do that more precise, and potentially stop you if you get out of control.'

Both Riven and him looked at her in mixed shock.

'...Out of control?' Hayden cautiously asked.

'I can't predict how you will respond. So I figured I'd better be at my strongest, in case you might overreact and start a rampage or something.' Zyra said casually. Now, Riven and Hayden exchaged a look of slight horror.

'Good, take my hands again.' she said, her hands opened and half stretched towards him again. More cautiously this time, he took her hands in his again. He noticed how different her hands now felt, like the surface of leaves, mixed with a slight rough touch, like the roots or branches of a winder.

_Is this what a hand would feel like if it was made by the rain forests perhaps? _

It was no unpleasant feeling though, just odd.

'Are you ready?'

Zyra pulled him out of his musing and he fixed his gaze on her again. Softly, he nodded. Her almost alien, intriguing yellow eyes beamed at him, always succeeding in making him feel like he was drowning in them. Being kept in their gaze, he felt the strange, itching feeling surge through the palms of his hands again, first just slightly, but gradually increasing in gravity. The stronger the waves of magic became, the warmer the surge and the more the itch intensified.

Suddenly, he felt his scar getting cold again and he experienced a feeling like it was branching out. Accompanying this, Riven's eyes grew wide, all while Zyra kept intensifying the flow of magic. The heat and itchy feeling were almost unbearable now. He tried to push it back and unexpectedly, he felt how the surges pulsated slower through his body.

_But I want them to get further away...further..._

The cold feeling of his scar extending now flowed throughout his whole body, accompanied by a new feeling of energy.

_Further...I want them to get OUT!_

Closing his eyes, he gritted his teeth while fighting back. He couldn't see it, but Riven's face now turned into one of shock, while she unintentionally and slowly backed away a bit.

Zyra's gaze remained indifferent while he opened his eyes again, and he noticed his vision was slightly blurred.

Along with this, an indescribably, heavy feeling rushed through his veins and found a way to his hands, to extinguish the source of that annoying fire still burning in his body. But before he could even reach it, he felt a strong shockwave that hit him like a sledgehammer, and his vision turned black.

Hayden fell backwards off the bed, knocked out cold. Zyra let her hands rest next to her body and looked at him with a mixed expression of intrigue and guilt on her face.

'That was horrendous to look at, you know that?' Riven said softly.

'Yes, I can figure...'

Zyra crouched down next to Hayden and softly caressed his cheek with her fingers, careful not to touch him with anything resembling a thorn.

'...And it's my fault.'

-'You saved him. It was this, or his death.'

'I saved him from my own poisoning. In the end, I remain guilty, Riven...' she said in a soft voice.

Riven examined Zyra for a bit and smiled.

'You really do love him, don't you?'

-'He's the first one that made me feel...really happy, made me feel like...this.'

Even in the luminescent, yellow eyes Riven could read the warm feeling of love,whilst the owner of the intriguing eyes still crouched next to the unconscious Hayden.

'Zyra..you know Hayden as good as me. You know he wouldn't want you to feel like this. And I'm sure that he told you that already, if not multiple times.'

Zyra looked up at the ex-Noxian, and from the look in her eyes Riven could already deduct the answer. She eyed her with a firm look, and Zyra was kept in place by the deep, crimson eyes of the white haired woman. After a while, Riven's eyes softened and she said silently;

'He loves you too..Don't forget that.'

And with those words she left the room, leaving Zyra alone with her thoughts.

* * *

><p>….<p>

…...

Black.

Dazingly, his sense of hearing returned, and through the black fog he heard voices, softly conversing.

Now, his vision also returned, yet blurry as fuck. He vaguely saw two figures approaching and bending over him.

'How are you feeling?'

That voice. An image of a young woman with characteristic, red eyes drifted through his mind.

_Riven..._

'I think you might've blasted him too hard.'

-'Nonsense.'

The second voice, though not as soft as the first one, sounded sweeter in his ears. A vision of a red-haired woman with alternately blue or yellow eyes appeared, but much closer, much warmer...

'Zyra..?'

His vision sharpened again, and now he could see the two women bending over him.

'Hah, I told you he'd say your name first!' said Riven. Zyra just rolled with her eyes.

'What happened? My head feels like I've been hit by a lead bar or something.'

-'How much can you remember?' Zyra asked. Hayden frowned a bit, trying to bring back the memory.

'You...were channeling your magic through our hands.'

Zyra nodded.

'And onwards?'

-'It intensified. Then, it felt like my scar...responded? And I-'

'Stop there. Tell me exactly how your scar felt'

Hayden closed his eyes, digging through his memories, still dazed by the hit. He now noticed he was lying on his bed in the living room.

'It turned completely cold, and it seemed like it was...expanding. Like branches, or roots or something like that. Then, I felt energy rush through my body, and I..'

He hesitated for a moment.

'...I felt like I wanted to destroy the source of the unknown magic, which was in this case...you, Zyra.'

He rubbed his temples and shook his head. Zyra had just been standing there along with Riven, listening to him, but now she shifted position, sitting down next to him.

'I'll now show you how it was for a bystander. How it was for us.'

She sat cross-legged and softly pushing him to turn so she faced him, and then placed her hands on his temples. Her glowing, yellow eyes locked with his green ones.

'Ready?'

He nodded. Hayden then quickly felt a glimpse of a strange aura emerge from her fingers, before he was pulled into Zyra's memory and everything turned black.

Suddenly, he saw himself sitting in front of...well, him. From the point of view of Zyra, he saw the other Hayden taking Zyra's hands and although he couldn't feel it, he knew she was now channeling magic through their connection. For a while, there was no real change, but then he saw the other Hayden frowning slightly when suddenly the scar of his counterpart lit up. This time, it was shining very brightly, even giving a slight, purplish glow to his face. The scar expanded, new stripes spreading out exactly how he had felt it, like branches or roots, mostly around his eyes and cheeks.

After that, some "branches" spread even further, through his hair, forming glowing, purple coloured strands of hair, dividing his hair into spiky braids with here and there the luminescent, purple braids. The other him had his eyes closed during the process, and when he finally opened them again, the irises were as purple as his scar, glowing evenly bright as well. They looked right at him now, and in those eyes he saw raw, mercilessness hunger for destruction. Now he knew what the feeling he had back there was.

It was the urge to kill, and the first one would be...Zyra.

He screamed and stumbled backwards, falling off the bed, thrown out of the memory. He looked at the two women in front of him with an expression soaked with shock, and even slight horror. Riven gave him a wry look in return, and Zyra bowed down her head, a guilty expression visible on her face.

'W-What happened there? Was that really me? It just can't be, I mean...'

Zyra looked up again, sadness and guilt filling her eyes.

'That was you, Hayden. You, being corrupted by my magic.

* * *

><p><strong>Time to thank the commenters again!<strong>

**Charvx:**

**You know, you state a thing there that has been bothering me now too, I can end or let this story evolve in soooo many different ways xd Mayde I should do it like in Beyond: Two Souls, one change in a situation causes a different outcome #totallynotimpossibletowrite And thank you for liking Riven n.n I think it's really difficult to give an already existing character her fitting personality because it already exists, but I just feel Riven would be a bit like this^^ Oh, and a sidenote, when I start with your name I always immediately start with 'Charvyx' for some reason xd**

**Jason Chard: Thank you :D about the love, I know there's much I could do about it, and I'm just thinking about it, perhaps I'll find something that fits, although I don't think something will get between Zyra and Hayden immediately**

**Rookie141: Well, you got some answers already in the pm n.n But thanks anyway again :D**

**Croziff: I'm can't really answer on that one, that would be spoilers :c You'll see... :3**

**Freak666chaos:**

**Well yeah, like i said in the beginning, the plot will rather be moving slowly I'm afraid, just because I'm wanting to fill it so much, I can't help it xd But yeah, I'm happy you see Zyra as I wanted her to be seen :D**

**Guest: Thanks dude!^^**

**SilverstormXD: Here we are again with the music xd Although I must say, this time you had a nice suggestion, I listened to it and I let it play twice because I liked it so much :D Damn I'm so suspectible to soundtracks... And about the Cho'Gath, I don't transport Champions that already are locked up, since the magic that chains them is stronger than the magic that warped the other Champions out of Valoran, that's just how it works in my head :/**

**Hipoisthabest: Same here, first I was thinking about it, but I immediately knew it wouldn't be happening since the magic that holds them is way stronger, but it would be funny as hell though xd Except for all the people he would eat, that is.**

**Have a nice day/night!**

**ADamnGoodName out again**


	8. Awakening

**Hello again for the people that already read my story, and hello to the new readers that perhaps checked out my story! :D**

** First off, Merry Christmas and Happy Newyear for everyoneee :3 I guess I can let this chapter also be my Christmas present to my readers -although TOTALLY not too late- , but anyways, secondly, sorry for a relatively late upload, but with all the Christmas stuff etc *finding excuses* **

**BUT! I found the word I was looking for, it's called: CLUSTER WRITER, that's what I am and what bugs me ._. Sometimes I can write a whole chapter in a day, sometimes I twist and turn myself to spill out some words for an entire week . That's why I hereby already excuse if I upload slowy sometimes ^^**

**ATTENTION: Explicit content ahead! This ****chapter is the reason I changed the rating to M!**

**Now that we got that one going, enjoy the new chapter ^^ Also, bear with me, as it is my first fanfic, this is also my first lemon :/ Grammar corrections as well as tips how to write such things better are gladly accepted, just PM me if you have some good tips! Concerning this, does anyone know a way to create open spaces? Because e.g. I want the start of the chapter to have a bit of space between the horizontal line and the title of the chapter, or generally open spaces in the story itself to create difference or so :o  
><strong>

**Lastly, comments, favs and follows are always appreciated, like always :3**

**That was way too much words for just an A.N ._.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

><p><strong>Awakening<strong>

Riven and Zyra had left him alone to let him have a little space while he tried to let the facts sink in. He could certainly use it. Eyes closed, Hayden sat down on his bed, absentmindedly ruffling through his hair. Here and there, he could feel the faint starts of the braid-like hair structures that were forming back during his transformation. While trying to unfold the spikes of hair, he sighed. In his mind, the images of him transforming under Zyra's tight hold constantly repeated.

'Hayden?' a soft voice called out. He looked up and saw Ellie standing at the other side of the room, probably only just having entered the house. She took off her jacket and walked up to him, sitting down at his side.

'Zyra called and told me what happened... How are you feeling now?'

Hayden clenched his teeth and looked down again.

'Fucked up.' he said, gritting his teeth now. Ellie put an arm around him and gave him a sideways hug.

'You have some spiky strands in your hair' she noticed, brushing through his hair. 'Does it have to do something with it?'

-'Go see Zyra. You can show you what...happened.'

She saw his eyes flickering purple for a second, once more bringing up the memory. Wondering, she leaned closer.

'Hayden, your eyes...'

He noticed her watching and turned away.

'Something also originated due to this mess.'

Ellie gently turned his head back to her, but she only saw a sad, green set of eyes looking back.

'Come one, Hayden... You can just try to live with it? I mean, that must be possible...'

To this, Hayden's expression turned into a glare.

'Live with it?' he said in a dark tone. 'You don't even know how it was!' How it is!' he growled. He buried the nails of his hands in the mattress of the bed. She now saw a faint hue of purple in his eyes again as he pushed himself off the bed.

'How would you feel like, if you knew there's a side of you that's a monster!?' he continued, pacing around. Ellie gasped and tried to intervene;

'Hayden, I'm sorry, just-'

-'I couldn't control myself! I would've killed her, if she hadn't stopped me in time!' he now hissed. Hayden turned back to her, and his irises now were a purple colour, and they lit up as bright as his scar, which was branching off to his ears and eyes. In his fury, he lashed out at the nightstand, knocking it down, causing it to crash on the ground with a slam. Suddenly, he noticed what he was doing and slowed down, stopping when reaching the bed again.

'I even wanted to...' he ended soft, hands clutched in his hair. He sighed now, and she saw the scar retracting and his eyes fading out to the normal green.

'I even wanted to...' he repeated in a sad tone. He looked at her again, and saw the fear in her eyes. Realizing what he had done, he bowed down his head and mumbled softly;

'Sorry... Please, go see Zyra... to understand...'

'O-Ok.' she answered, taken aback. She got up and walked to the garden. While walking away, she saw Hayden letting himself fall down on the bed.

Ellie softly closed the door and continued towards Zyra, who was in her fully human form again, and Riven, who were sitting midst the green grass. They saw her approaching and turned their heads. Riven shoved aside so she could sit down.

'...He suffers quite some from it, eh?' started Riven.

'Yes...' Ellie answered. She moved the gaze of her blue eyes to Zyra, who answered her look with a wry expression, filled with guilt.

'As does she.' said Riven, stating Zyra's thoughts. Ellie felt a pang in her heart as she realized Zyra had to the suffer the most in this situation, as she knew that it was solemnly her fault and hers only Hayden was like this.

'Hayden told me to come see you, that it would explain more.'

Zyra and Riven exchanged looks and Zyra turned back to her.

'Are you sure you want to see it? Like I told you, it probably won't be so pretty for you.' Zyra said in a serious tone.

'I-I want to understand...how he-how you two feel. I don't want to see you like this.'

Zyra sighed, closing her eyes for a second.

'Come sit here.'

She gestured at the spot directly in front of her. Ellie got up and sat down at the place on the ground Zyra gestured at. Zyra then placed her fingertips against Ellie's temples, which made her yelp a bit in surprise of the sudden, strange movement. The red haired woman locked eyes with her, the blue eyes stirring with yellow lights again.

'This is going to be very strange, but bear with it.'

The next thing she knew was that she was seemingly sucked into a void, after which, when she opened her eyes again again, she sat in the living room, on Hayden's bed, with Hayden in front of her, holding her hands.

_Wait, what? _

She tried to look around for a bit, but her eyesight was somehow forced at Hayden. She could however make out that Riven sat next to her, and from the thorns, vines, leaves and the long, red wisp of hair in front of her view, she was currently in the body of Zyra. _A memory... _She saw the Hayden in front of her had his eyes closed now, frowning slightly. The scar on his cheek now lit up more brightly than she had ever seen it, even giving an eerie, purple glow to his face.

And then it started. She was already confused when she saw his scar light up, but then it started to expand, stretching, forming new lines, like branches digging themselves through his skin, centering around his eyes and cheeks. Some of them continued on into his hair, interweaving with strands of his hair, forming the spiky braids of hair like she saw on him a while ago, but then with strands of purple hair glowing through it.

The Hayden from the memory finally opened his eyes again, and now, his irises were as luminescent and purple like his scar, glowing brightly in the dim light of the room. From his eyes, a cold gaze, filled with deadly intentions, beamed directly at her. She screamed, and she felt Zyra -so herself- send a shockwave through her hands, which knocked out Hayden. The purple lights in his eyes dimmed, returning his irises to the normal green, and the purple lines retracted themselves into his scar while he fell backwards off the bed.

Suddenly, she was sucked out again, and faced Zyra again, who retracted her fingertips from Ellie's temples, guilt still filling her eyes while she looked at Ellie, who's expression was one of shock as she looked back at Zyra.

'So this is...What he...what happened the-there, how he...'

-'Yes.' Zyra simply said.

'That is what he has become, on the inside.'

...

When Ellie had returned to the living room in a slight state of shock, Hayden was gone. The whole house was void of Hayden. She told Zyra and Riven about it and while Riven and her had the same worried look, Zyra said resolutely to let him do as he wanted.

'He will be back...'

...

Later that night, Hayden hadn't returned yet, so it was the three of them at the table for dinner. The mood was dejected because of the event, but suddenly Ellie turned to Zyra.

'Ho do you know for sure he'll be back? And when?'

Zyra let her spoon rest in the soup she was eating and looked back.

'He will be back, and tonight. I know that because in this state he doesn't want to stay over somewhere or generally stay somewhere, fearing for the safety of those around him. And I'm also sure because I...feel like it. And-_what's so funny_?'

Zyra halted mid-sentence, annoyed because of Ellie, who was showing a mischievous smile.

'You know another reason, right?' she said, still smiling devilishly. Zyra frowned, feeling a typical, annoying comment on the situation coming up. She didn't want to make the mistake of answering, but she couldn't resist.

'...What now again?'

Ellie still showed the smile, but this time it turned into a genuine one.

'He loves you. He wouldn't abandon you. Ever. Believe me, I know Hayden. Now, even when everything else seems to crumble, you will remain, Zyra. He's poetic like that.'

Throughout her speech, Riven also started to show a soft, but warm laugh, while Zyra accordingly felt her cheeks rose. After dinner, Ellie started to pack her things.

'Are you sure you want to leave? We have room if you'd like to stay.' Riven said, while she was clearing the table. Zyra, who stood next to Ellie, turned to her, eyebrows furrowed.

'Don't encourage the thing to-'

-'Easy, Zyra, I'm going home, no worries. The less people when he returns, the better. But...'

Now the girl turned to her, and Zyra saw a glimpse of sadness in the normally always happy, blue eyes. 'Be sure to bring him...back. You're the only one who can do that...'

Zyra lifted her eyebrows in surprise.

'And how should I be the only one-' But she couldn't finish her sentence, out of the blue, Ellie approached Zyra and embraced her.

'...Please?'

Zyra, a bit unsure about how to respond to the sudden, small emotional outburst of the girl, returned the hug, first awkwardly, but then fully embracing Ellie.

'Come on...Ellie. Don't be so dramatic. I'll...make sure he'll be back, here with us.'

It was the first time she said her name out loud and it left a strange feeling, both in her mouth as in her heart. However, Ellie seemed to be consoled by it and released her.

'Thank you...' she said in a soft voice. In her eyes, Zyra could see a hint of her trademark sunshine returning. She smiled softly at Ellie while the girl disappeared behind the back door. After she was gone, Riven turned to Zyra, arms crossed.

'Well well, look at that. If you keep this up, you'll even grow fond of each other.' she teased. Zyra shot her an annoyed glare, at which Riven laughed, continuing to clean the table.

...

When he arrived back home, the house was silent. _Good..._ He softly opened the back door and slipped through. After closing it with the same, precise care, he turned around and noticed the light in the living room was still on. Frowning, he entered the room and wanted to throw his keys on the couch, when he saw a familiar figure sitting on his bed.

'Zyra?'

The woman on the bed, who was looking at him, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and rose from the bed.

'So surprised to see me? I live here too, you know.' she said, one eyebrow slightly lifted.

'No ehm, I just expected-'

-'No one to be awake at this hour?'

'...Yes.'

-'I stayed up for you.'

She now walked up to him and looked at him like Riven could, almost like screening him, but she had a soft, almost concerned look in her eyes.

'Where did you suddenly go off to, Hayden? You should've seen Ellie...after your outburst she was really worried.'

He looked down, remembering how he had reacted when Ellie tried to calm him.

'I went off with the intention of breaking the bonds with my parents and friends. I can't risk pulling anyone else in this.'

-'You _what_? And I thought Ellie was being over-dramatic, please. Hayden, don't tell me you really did-'

'No. I tried. But I couldn't face anyone in this state.'

Zyra crossed her arms and sent him a mesmerizing gaze, her eyes flaring up yellow again.

'You're afraid.'

Hayden looked down, away from Zyra's gaze.

'I fear for the people around me.'

A small silence followed after Hayden's last words.

'You fear yourself.'

A slight gasp escaped his lips as he looked back up. She walked up to him and made him look at her.

'You don't have to fear it, Hayden. Fearing something only increases its power.'

Zyra now faced him, their faces only inches apart. Now, it was her who sighed.

'Hayden, don't be like that, please... Just because it's like this doesn't mean you have to exclude yourself from society. Look at Riven's past, what she has done, what she had to endure. She remains scarred, both mentally and physically. But she's here, surrounded by people who accept her. Look at _me_, for fucks sake! My kin and I have slaughtered thousands of people over the years! And yet I'm here, with people who accept me...with you.'

Slightly blushing, she unfolded her arms, which she had crossed up till now. She brought them to his face, softly caressing his cheeks.

'We're here for you.'

Now, a faint blush was clearly visible on her face, and Zyra'a eyes turned into a look of sadness, guilt and tenderness.

'I'm here for you...'

Next thing he knew was her lips pressed against him, in a deep, soft kiss, releasing all the tension she had been storing up till now in a single act of love. He answered her kiss without a second thought, and he too felt all the tension and worries lifted from his shoulders in that little moment of bliss.

She broke the kiss and leaned back. Her eyes were now filled with tears and guilt.

'I'm sorry... It's my fault you are like this... If I hadn't attacked you there, you would-'

She shook her head, halting mid-sentence. Hayden embraced her in response and looked at her, wiping away some tears.

'It's okay.. I overreacted, I know. It's true, if you hadn't attacked me there, I wouldn't be like this, but...'

He now leaned in and gave her a tender kiss in return.

'Then there would also be no us. I'd gladly sacrifice a part of my...humanity for this. For you.' he ended. Zyra smiled through her tears, relief finally breaking through the wall of guilt. She embraced him in a tight hug while saying;

'Ellie was right, you're poetic like that.'

To this, Hayden laughed. A small, but genuine laugh, bringing a bit of relief to his heart.

'Did she say that? I guess she knows me too well... But to counter that, this side of you is one nobody expected or ever could've guessed, I think. And yet here you are, the tender, loving Zyra.' he teased. She pushed him away, frowning.

'It's not...I-It's your fault! You make me feel like this...'

-'Relax, Zyra, I'm just joking.'

He smiled and gave her a little kiss on her forehead.

'Thank you,Zyra, for calming me.'

He pulled back his head and said;

'Come on, I think it's best for the both of us we go to bed now.'

She smiled back, and he turned around, walking to his bed.

'Hayden, wait!'

Zyra suddenly grabbed his arm and tugged at it so he'd turn around. With one of the biggest blushes he had yet to see on her, she asked softly;

'Would-Would you like to sleep with me upstairs?...I-I don't really want to sleep alone after that overload of emotions today...' she stuttered a bit. To this, Hayden blushed as well, but he took her hand in approval, sharing her smile.

They walked up the stairs, a comfortable silence lingering in between them. He watched her scarlet hair gently sway from side to side every time she took a new step on the stairs. His eyes went over her hourglass shaped figure while a smile adorned his face.

Reaching her -still his, actually- bedroom, Zyra opened the door for them both. After they both had passed through, Hayden closed it behind them.

'Wait a second...' Hayden started, realizing something. 'Do you actually have something to wear for the night? Because otherw-'

'I do, and otherwise what? You would be paralyzed out of shame?' Zyra answered teasingly. While saying that, she lifted her loose t-shirt over her head and let it fall down on the floor. Beneath it, she wore a tank top, neatly drawing extra attention to her well-endowed chest. She also took off her jeans, revealing simple, small shorts. Hayden, who was watching while she was changing, lifted his eyebrows in surprise.

'You wear something like that to sleep in? That's something I really didn't expect on you.'

She smiled and looked back.

'Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. Don't like it?' she said, while running her hands down her body, making sure to accent her features.

'No-It's just-I mean-'

She kept her smile and walked up to him until she stood in front of him.

'Want me to take it off then?' she said in a soft, sensual voice. Hayden couldn't find anything to say in response, astonished by her sudden change of attitude. She laughed and bended towards him, giving him a smooth kiss.

'It's cute when you're embarrassed.' she smiled when she broke the kiss and straightened herself again.

'Says who... You were as red as a traffic light when you asked me to sleep alongside you for the night.' he mumbled. In response, he saw a faint blush appear on her cheeks. She walked up the bed and threw the covers open, after which she swiftly slid herself under the blankets. Hayden, realizing he still stood there, undressed on his turn until only his shorts remained. A bit self-conscious because Zyra was there too, he quickly lay down in the bed, making himself comfortable under the sheets. Zyra turned to him and gave him a warm look, an accordingly warm glow emitting from her now blue eyes. Her gaze went from his face to his shoulder and she suddenly frowned.

'What's wrong?' Hayden asked, slightly worried. She moved a bit closer and extended her arm, brushing over the line of the scar she had noticed, caressing the hardened skin.

'Your wounds...they still became scars after all...' she said with a hint of sadness in her eyes.

'Zyra...'

He embraced the woman and brushed her deeply red coloured hair out of her face. Giving her a tender kiss, he said;

'I told you, it doesn't matter. The past is in the past, I hold no grudge against you. There has been enough grief the last couple of days.'

She shook her head and buried it in his chest. Even after the whole evening , all these times of talking it through, he still felt the woman he loved so much slightly crawl against him and sighing heavily. Hayden tenderly cupped her head in his hands and let her look up again. He held her in his gaze with his green eyes for once emitting a stronger aura than her blue ones, who were spotted with little, luminescent pools of yellow.

'Now who's the one being over-dramatic?'

To this, she showed a small smile again.

'I know you feel guilty, especially since it's me, but please, leave it finally behind us...okay?' he continued.

At long last and after a while, she nodded and cuddled up against him. To his surprise and embarrassment, he felt her bare breasts against him, her nipples slightly brushing against his skin.

'...Did you take of your top?'

-'Perhaps.' she giggled. He felt his face redden, but was damn sure hers did too.

'….And I can feel you like it, too.' she teased, although embarrassment now clearly resonated through her voice.

'Shut up...' he muttered. She looked up again now, yellow sparkles in her eyes. Once again, their lips met, and Zyra tightened their embrace, her breasts now clearly pressed against him, her nipples slightly poking into his chest. Lost in the moment, their kissing intensified, as did their breathing. Hayden let his left hand run down her bare back, feeling a shiver on her side follow his movement. A slight gasp of surprise escaped her lips as Zyra felt the odd feeling running down her spine. He moved his hand back up, and brushed against the soft, warm tissue of her breast by accident and felt another shiver run down her warm body.

He smiled at her sensitivity and turned her around, so Zyra was laying on her back. Laying in front of him, outstretched and relaxed, with her scarlet hair spread out beneath her, he was a bit taken aback and abashed at her stunningly beautiful body, that she just was giving to him. That one look was all he needed, and he knew she was the most beautiful woman he would ever see.

She in her turn looked at him, and in those eyes, those two pools of yellow light filled with sensual joy, he knew she was waiting for him to make the next move. Then, her gaze turned into a apologetic one as he bended over her.

'I-I don't know how to...I've never...now-'

He silenced her excusing with a tender kiss.

'It's my first time too... Just let your emotions guide you, and we'll only go as far as you want, okay?'

Zyra smiled and nodded. He let his fingers slowly trail over her shoulders downwards, reaching her ample chest. He softly caressed the onset of her breasts, after which he let his hands go over her soft mounds of womanly flesh. Zyra let out a small, cute moan and he responded by giving her a soft kiss, which she excitedly answered. Gentle and caressing, he let his fingers massage the warm, large breasts, occasionally brushing over one of her nipples with his fingertips. Every time he broke the kiss, he felt her moan a bit louder. He felt the small, light pink coloured tips stiffen under his touch, until they stood erect, like two small tops on the mountains of flesh.

Placing one hand on her cheek, he gently brushed over the skin while their lips met once more that evening. His hand slowly went down her cheek towards her neck, and down back to where it had been before, now softly drawing slow circles around her nipple. She giggled a bit, enjoying the sudden feeling. It made her open her eyes and cheeks flush in embarrassment. He let out a small laugh and silenced her with a tender kiss, before she could start to excuse herself or think about it too much.

He continued to give her small kisses, moving downwards, likewise as his hand did just a few seconds ago. Hayden reached the the billowing onset of her full, firm pillows. Moving to her right breast, he wondered how she would respond if he..

The next thing he did was going directly for her nipple, suckling on it, giving it a soft, tender bite, while his left hand kept her other breast busy, but now evenly going for the small, erect form toppling her breast.

He did expect her to respond, but he underestimated her sensitivity. She let out a loud, deep moan, loud enough he was afraid Riven could hear it, would she be awake.

Now he had found her sensitive spot, he kept lingering around them, caressing the two little tips in their pink halo's. Sensually, he trailed a way down with his right hand, after which his left one followed, caressing the lower side of her soft, warm breasts. Now, he changed his attention from her voluptuous bosom downwards, reaching the flat, smooth skin of her stomach. His fingertips softly brushed against the silky surface of her belly, slightly tickling, which made Zyra out another cute giggle.

With his both hands gone, she went on and softly massaged her own breasts, caressing her nipples now and then, having discovered her sensitive spot herself too now.

Moving his hands lower on her hourglass-shaped figure, he reached her rounded hips, following his way down her smooth thighs.

Next, he gently trailed to the inner side of her legs, which he softly stroked. Slowly, he moved onwards to her womanhood. The soft touch of his hands made her shudder slightly in excitement. Reaching closer, he could already slightly feel the moisture coming from her vagina, dampening the area of her legs around it.

At long last, he reached her most private spot, and when he softly caressed the area he noticed she was already soaking wet, completely caught up in the uncharted feelings she was now experiencing.

With two fingers, he slowly went over the outside of her vagina, from the bottom to her love button, gently moving around it. Zyra's hips slowly moved up, following his movement, while her breathing intensified. She opened her eyes and suddenly noticed she missed the sweet connection of his lips with hers. She bended forward and pulled him down, kissing him deep, intensified because of the pure lust that now rushed through her body and mind.

While now almost being pressed against her in her tight , loving embrace, he could once more smell her beautiful, vivid breath, which singlehandedly seemed to fill his brain with the image of them making love in a lush forest, in an open spot, moonlight softly shining through the opening in the canopy.

He slyly moved his hand downwards while they were passionately kissing and suddenly entered her with two fingers, which made her break the kiss and out a soft, suppressed cry filled with pure, erotic lust. Slowly moving his fingertips in her, he silenced her moans with another session of deep kissing, which she more than gratefully answered. He put in a little bit more pressure and shove his fingers deeper, to which he felt her breathing intensify, she herself closing her eyes again. She arced her back, grinding her groin against his hand in ecstasy.

But suddenly, she pushed him back a little bit and slid her hand down, reaching for his now rock hard erection. Blindly, she fidgeted on his shorts, pulling it down. With her other hand, she softly lead his hand out of her, his fingers slightly dripping with fluid. She opened her eyes and guided his penis to her vagina. Now, a blush appeared on Hayden's face.

'Are you sure about this?'

She looked back, also blushing, but her gaze was one of pure lust and excitement.

'Please...' she whispered.

He nodded and slowly, he trusted forward, entering her moist, warm tunnel of love. She gladly let him in, almost pushing herself against him, on the inside embracing his penis in a tight, warm grip. He did look a bit surprised when he felt not even a slight obstruction, nor did she show any pain or blood loss. Not wanting to ruin the mood, he cautiously asked;

'...D-Did you already break your hymen before?'

Zyra, who was moaning softly in pleasure, looked up at him.

'What's a hymen?' she asked absentmindedly, her voice slightly drenched with lust. Hayden stashed away a quick laugh and bent over, embracing her.

He continued with kissing her, now also overwhelmed by the pleasure being inside her created, her walls massaging his hard lid. She responded to his kissing, his lips finding hers once more.

The love they made was slow, intense and romantic. For them, only the other one existed for now, joined in their embrace, evenly enjoying the pleasure the other one created. For the time being, it made them feel as one, one in love and lust.

The moans in between their kissing intensified with every trust, to which she more and more pushed her hips upwards, to feel him even deeper inside her. He broke the contact with her lips, to which she gave him a look of disappointment, but it immediately turned into one of pleasure when he turned his attention to her soft breasts again, massaging them and softly suckling on her nipples, making her soft cries increase in volume.

She began to return his thrusts more violently, burying her nails into his back in their embrace, nearing her orgasm. Her moans increased in volume and rate, now filled with pure, erotic pleasure. And with another, final thrust, she reached her peak of bliss. Her moans turned into cries as she began to shake violently in her first orgasm ever, clamping him down inside her, kneading his dick within her spasming vaginal walls. He almost had to bite his lip to not come himself, while he slowly kept on thrusting inside her, accompanying her orgasm to a slower pace. When she finally calmed down, she limply fell down on the bed, taking deep breaths, her breasts slowly rising and sinking with the movement of her chest.

After a short pause, she opened her eyes and sent him a look filled with love. She suddenly pulled him down, giving him the deepest and longest kiss she had ever given him. In her tender embrace, he felt her hard nipples now poking into his chest, together with the soft, warm tissue of her full breasts.

She leaned back down, and with her head resting on the pillows, she smiled at him.

'...I love you, Hayden...more than I could ever imagine I could...' she shook her head, but he gently cupped her head in his hands and softly caressed her deep red hair. In response, he gave her a tender kiss, his lips lingering on hers for seemingly as long as the emotions flowed through them. Slowly, he broke the small moment of pure love, leaning back. Returning her loving gaze, he said;

'From the moment I saw the loving side of you showing,it was as if sparks gathered inside of me, assembling in the pit of my stomach and exploding like a hurricane of butterflies. The thoughts of you took over my mind, thoughts of you in my arms...'

-'Thoughts of finally feeling your lips touching mine...' she continued his sentence with a warm smile, lifting her arm to softly touch his cheek with the back of her hand.

'...Of loving you in the purest way...' he responded again, showing the same smile.

'But I denied it...' they said, almost in unison. Zyra smiled in surprise and pushed herself up a bit, to give him a soft kiss.

'The stupid thing is that Ellie and Riven saw it before the thought even crossed my mind...' she began on her own accord now.

'What thought?' he asked warmheartedly.

'...That you would love me back.' she said in a very soft voice, turning away her head a bit. Now, it was his turn to bend over and give her a loving kiss.

Being satisfied with giving her a moment of pure joy and satisfaction he brought her in her orgasm, he wanted to pull his lid out, but as soon as he began, Zyra squeezed him inside her, almost clenching his penis in her vagina.

'D-...Don't stop...' she spoke almost pleadingly, cheeks rosing, while she let her arms sensually dance over his back. She pulled him down in another embrace, softly kissing him in his neck. While he felt her silky, blood red hair brush against him she brought her head back down, facing him again.

'You deserve it too...' she whispered.

They continued making love for more than an hour, in a tender rush of emotions, romantic tensions and the pure bliss of two lovers truly being together.

When they were finally done and lying on the bed, both in a satisfied exhaustion, Zyra turned to him once more and embraced him, soft and lovingly, but at the same time refusing to let him go, once more cuddling up against him, her head now resting on his shoulders. With her eyes already closed, she said;

'You gave me so much more in mere weeks than I experienced in my entire life...'

Her voice trembled slightly, already sounding a bit drowsy. And when she already slipped away into her own world of dreams, she just simply whispered;

'Sweet dreams, Hayden...'

Hayden on his turn now gazed at the now peacefully sleeping woman beside him, still holding him in her embrace. Caressing strands of her crimson hair that now slightly reflected the moonlight falling in through the windows, giving it a white shine on the spots where the soft strands of the night light brushed her hair.

'Sweet dreams, my love...' he whispered back, now closing his eyes and drifting off to his own land of dreamscapes as well.

* * *

><p><strong>Soooo, I think I'm perhaps way too cheesy . But whatever I guess :**

**mastermonorail: Dude, it wasn't even afternoon, you clearly weren't paying attention in class**

**SilverstormXD: Keep on going with those attacks, funny to read xd**

**Hipoisthabest: ****Yeah, I know Hayden is a bit left alone in the boy/girl ratio haha, but who knows what will happen? *unnecessary dramatic music***

**Croziff: Aww, how sweet,ty:3 **

**Freak666chaos: Thank you:D And don't be mad if it will take a while for your fav champs to appear, it has to be at least a bit logical so I can't dump them all at once :c**

**Guest: Thanks dude!^^ or perhaps girl xd Anyway, I'll keep writing:3**

**Hotel worker: I don't know if I should feel honoured or a bit guilty that my story kept you from your work for two hours o.o Nah, fuck that, I'm glad you enjoyed it, that's what my story is for :D And it feels good to see a Zyra fan say that her character is good, because that's what I'm trying to do to the best I can manage, giving her a legit personality ^^**

**ADAMNGOODFAN: Well, about Yasuo, I have a pool of champions from which I choose the next one(s) that appear, and I can hint that Yasuo's in that pool :D and dat name though, extra respects for your name xd **

**Antropomancy: Yeah, you point out one of the biggest problems I have to cope with, since I want to keep it somewhat realistic, but I guess I'll have to find something :D **

**spiderwilliam13: Yeah, don't you agree? It'll be totally fabulous:3 **

**Ben S: Somewhere that comment is so cute, hahaha, and about Pantheon, well, I can't really say when or how for every champ, since spoiler or unfinished promises:c **

**Nauruto4Evar: Perhaps it may be that there is a chance that the possibility of things getting out of control may increase *trying to leave it in the open as much as possible***


	9. Suspicious Newsflash

**Hey everyone, I'm back with another chapter for you guys:3**

**First of all, I'm going to apologize in advance for the fact that the next chapter maybe will take a lot of time to be uploaded, since I'll be having exams next week, and well, studying and such ._. So I can see if I can manage, if not, plis dunt kill meh :c**

**And a second thing, thanks to all the people who keep visiting and reading and foremost, enjoying my story! You wouldn't know how much all those comments have encouraged me :D**

**I'm also going to dedicate a special thanks to one of my beta-readers, without her this story wouldn't have been placed here D:**  
><strong>*dramatic,swelling music*<strong>

**A big thanks to Ayeela! :D**

**Which is, of course, only her in-game name on League, since she has no account here, but I had to find something to thank her, so that'll suffice I hope :c**

**I hope you like the story, *fav, follow, comment plis, insert typical writer stuff*  
>Enjoy! n.n<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Suspicious Newsflash<strong>

The next morning, the first strands of the morning sun failed to wake up the couple, still sleeping soundly next to each other. It was only when the midday sun arrived that the now bright beams of daylight woke them from their slumber. Hayden lazily opened his eyes, immediately closing them again and turning away with the harsh sunlight piercing in his eyes. He rubbed his eyes and mumbled a bit, still somewhat overcome with sleep. Slowly, he raised himself until he sat up straight in bed, rubbing his eyes once more, stretching for a yawn. Looking to the side, he saw that Zyra was still in a deep slumber.

He smiled at the sight of the normally should-be so deadly woman sleeping so peacefully next to him, her red hair draped beneath her like a blanket. He slowly bent over her and gave her a soft kiss.

'Wake up, Zyra...' he softly whispered. She frowned and groaned a bit, lazily opening her eyes. Looking up, she saw Hayden bended over her and smiled. Reaching up, she gave him a small kiss in return.

'Good morning, Hayden.'

He sent her a warm smile and rolled off to the other side of the bed, putting on his shorts again. Turning around, he gestured at the door and said;

'Please, feel free to take the shower before me.'

Zyra laughed while letting her top fall over her bosom and afterwards putting on her shorts as well.

'Being all gentleman-like, are we?'

-'Well, what would you like me to do then?'

She rose from the bed and walked past him, tenderly caressing his cheek.

'Nothing. I gladly take the offer.' she smiled, and disappeared towards the bathroom. Hayden waited until he heard the water of the shower rain down to get himself somewhat dressed and descended the stairs to the living room.

Downstairs in the kitchen, Riven was preparing a simple lunch and looked up in satisfied surprise.

'Did the two love birds woke up from their love nest?' she teased with a smile on her face. Hayden's face immediately turned a deeper shade of red as he almost stopped dead in his tracks.

'You know, if there was one thing I'd never imagined Zyra would do, it would be that.' she went on, the smile on her face now turning into a knowing grin. When he didn't responded, she stepped up to him and took his hand, softly tugging to let him enter and gently pushing him to the chairs next to the table.

'Come on, you don't have to be so embarrassed. I'm glad for you two.' she tenderly said, with a warm smile that could make even the coldest hearts melt. He sat down and looked up at her with a guilty look.

'Why do you always catch us with those things...'

Riven laughed and took some eggs, breaking them and throwing them in a pan. While he grabbed himself some slices of bread, he noticed she was wearing a very loose white t-shirt together with some shorts. _Why does everyone in this house wear shorts..._ Nonetheless, he said;

'By the way, are you wearing some of my clothes?'

-'I thought these were Zyra's, why?'

Hayden saw his chance to tease her back.

'Because you're showing quite the cleavage.'

Riven, who just bent over a bit to place a bowl of soup on the table, froze and blushed harder than he thought she could. She quickly pulled back, trying to cover her chest some more, to as much as the long t-shirt allowed. Now, it was his turn to laugh as she continued to prepare the eggs, the blush still clearly visible.

'I guess I deserved that one...' she mumbled, but still audible.

After a while of eating in comfortable silence, they heard Zyra descending the stairs, and the next moment she entered the room. Hayden quickly halted a laugh with his hand when he saw her hair, which stood in spiky strands of red, still drying. Zyra noticed it and sent him a frown to which he just smiled back.

'Want some eggs?' Riven started when Zyra seated. This one looked up and nodded.

'Yeah sure, why not...' she answered, still rubbing her eyes a bit, even after the shower.

Riven, who shove some eggs on a plate for her, started to show that knowing smile again he hated by now already. Placing it in front of her, but this time neatly making sure she did not bend over to much. While Zyra started to eat unknowingly, Riven put herself down on the chair next to her. She leaned with her head on her right hand and slightly looked Zyra's way. Her smile broadened, and Hayden knew what was coming.

'You know, your moans are quite cute, Zyra.' she said casually. The red haired woman almost jumped in surprise and spit out the piece of egg she had just put in her mouth, her cheeks as red as yesterday evening again.

'Y-You were awake?' she asked with an almost terrified tone in her voice.

'No.'

-'Well then what are-'

'You woke me up.'

Riven smile now even grew wider along with Zyra's embarrassment and shocked expression on her face.

'Don't worry, she pulled the same trick on me.' Hayden wryly answered.

'I can't help it, you two are just too cute like that.' she smiled, letting her head rest on both her hands now. 'Be glad I don't go running around and tell everyone, like a certain light mage would do.'

Zyra just groaned in response and turned her head away.

* * *

><p>Ellie decided to rush in around the late afternoon, and when Zyra wanted to make sure Riven didn't start to say anything about what happened, Riven assuringly shook her head.<p>

'That will be your decision to tell her or not. I maybe couldn't resist teasing you with it, but I know what revealing secrets and feelings does to people. So no.' she smiled once more, before walking past her to the living room.

After the dinner, Ellie and Hayden were watching the news for once, while Riven and Zyra sat at the table, holding a deep conversation in the Common Tongue, runes spread around them on the table. However, a certain newsflash attracted the attention of them all.

_'An unknown type of poisoning strikes with dread and has already cost a significant amount of lives in an area of the state Maine. Several people have died or are being brought to the hospitals with severe cases of a certain, new type of neurotoxin. Medics across the country are now...' _

While the newscaster was talking, the tv showed footage of people brought in from ambulances to the intensive care on stretchers, some still shuddering and groaning, others lying limply, almost as motionless as only the dead can be. A closer view on a person taken care of was shown and Ellie backed away from the screen with a disgusted yell.

'Eeeehw!'

On the screen lay a man, motionless, his skin slightly tinted blue, eyes staring into nothingness. In his neck, a huge wound could be seen, like the bite of an enourmous insect. Zyra frowned at the sight.

'Hayden! Can you stop that image?'

-'No sorry, it's a broadcast on tv, why?'

Zyra now showed an unusual, serious expression.

'That man...'

Hayden was a bit confused at the sight of her and said;

'They'll show it again probably, it seems important.'

While turning around again, he saw a doctor trying to explain it all:

'_It's a strange, but not insuperable situation. The poison is just very aggressive in a way we're not used to. And furthermore...' _

On the screen, another shot of a woman this time was shown, clearly still being conscious, cramping her arms and moaning in surpressed pain. Her body carried the same features of poisoning as the man. She as well had a wound, leaving a punctured, foul coloured piece of flesh in her chest.

'Those bites...' Zyra gritted.

'Elise.' Riven followed up, now also have rosen from her seat, intently examining the screen. Ellie jumped up.

'Are you sure?'

Riven nodded.

'Those forms of bite wounds are characteristic for her venomous bites and the poisoning they cause. If you've seen teammates die several times on the Rift because of that you'll reckognize it, be sure of that.'

-'Then we need to get to Maine right now!' Ellie exclaimed, already raising from the couch she was sitting on.

'Hoooo there, Ellie. First, we don' t even know exactly where in Maine, and more important, how are we even going to get there? It's not really next door, you know.' Hayden quickly responded.

'Well, we could drive, I mean, it's not like it's _impossible._' Ellie began.

'I'm NOTgoing to sit in such a car as those here for hours, no way!' Zyra immediately almost yelled, her eyes resolute. Ellie backed a bit, surprised by the harsh response from the other woman. She seemed to sink into thoughts for a bit.

'What about we fly?'

Hayden stared at her dumbfounded.

'Do you even know what that will cost us? And not even taking in account that we have two actually should-be non-existant people to take with us? If there is an example for being illegal, it would be this.'

Zyra noticed his distress and looked at him.

'What does she mean with 'fly'? And why is that such a problem?'

She means taking the airplane to there. Instead of driving for hours and hours, days perhaps, that will take like, an hour at max.'

-'But...?' she insisted, knowing that there had to be something wrong.

'But first off, it costs us a lot of money, and second, it is very secured. We would need you two to have some form of ID-cards to show that you are citizens of the US, which is like, impossible in this short amount of time.'

-'Wait a second... How do these ID-things work?'

-'It's like a proof of your person.' Ellie joined in. 'Wait..'

She pulled out her wallet from her pocket and searched the insides until she found what she was looking for.

'...Like this!'

She presented her driver license, pointing at the picture and the info about herself next to it.

'You'll need a photo, your full name, address, age, things like that. Now I think of it, you don't even have a full name, do you?'

-'If you count in the scientific name of the kind of plant I used to be I do...' Zyra softly answered, clearly plunged in thought, frowning.

'Can I have that for a moment?'

She pointed at Ellie's driver's license out of the blue.

'Ehm, sure, go ahead.'

The girl handed her the little card with a curious look.

'What's on your mind, Zyra?' Riven asked, stating the curiousity of all three of them. Zyra herself was still examining the card, but suddenly looked up.

'I'm gonna try something.'

She turned to Hayden.

'Can you look at me and compare my looks with the photo on the license?'

-'Ehm, sorry, but how I even think for the slightest that you look like-'

'Just do it, I don't feel like needing to explain every single thing.' she said stern.

'Ehm, sure, I guess?'

He focused his gaze on Zyra and then at Ellie's picture.

'What am I supposed to see?'

The woman raised a hand and gestured to wait, her blue eyes focused.

'I don't know how good this will work, but let's see...'

The words were still lingering in the air when he saw Zyra transform into Ellie in a split second, completely identical to the real Ellie standing two meters apart from her.

'...And now?' Zyra/Ellie 2.0 asked, even copying her enthousiastic voice.

'You look exactly alike...How?'

At his side, Riven frowned at his answer and Ellie lifted an eyebrow in response as well. Now, Zyra seemed to transform back to herself, pursing her lips.

'No flaws?'

-'The only thing that was odd was Ellie's voice speaking so calculated and serious.' he smiled. Ellie pouted at his comment and even more at Zyra's snickering that followed up his words.

'Good, phase two...Look at Riven now.'

Riven, hearing her name, raised her eyebrows and showed a slightly cautious expression.

'Don't you dare pull any trick on m-'

-'Not you, him.'

Hayden lifted an eyebrow at her strange response as well. Zyra just pursed her lips some more and slowly kept switching her vision from Riven and Hayden, and back again. Riven, who was now being examined by Zyra and Hayden, while Ellie watched the scene with curiousity as well, began to feel uncomfortable.

'Ehm, Zyra, I'm feeling a bit stalked like this...' she said, a faint blush appearing on her freckled cheeks. Riven's words had just faded out when the same thing happened to Riven as happened to Zyra a minute ago. A perfect copy of Ellie had taked the spot of Riven.

'And?' Zyra began.

'...Ellie.' Hayden slowly answered, once again dumbfounded.

'Good.'

Zyra turned away and sighed a bit, seeming a bit tired. Riven changed back to her normal appearance and now shared the same confusion as the real Ellie on the situation.

'How did you do that?' Hayden asked, astonished.

'What? What actually happened? There was nothing that changed?' Ellie asked, now completely taken aback by the strange behaviour of Hayden.

'Hypnosis.' Zyra responded, just ignoring Ellie. 'I decieved you into thinking me and Riven had the features of Ellie. I picked up some things from Lux.' she smiled.

'Lux? So she isn't a braindead Demacian that just hyperactively runs around, screaming the name of her city-state?' Ellie wondered.

Zyra looked at her in slight dissaproval.

'Not at all. She's very intelligent, and can be tricky if she wants to. She's one of Demacia's best spies. She can hold up her veil of a different person constantly though, I can only do it like, for maximum a minute or so. So I guess it will be just enough to slip by that security, no?'

'This. Is. Genius.' Hayden gasped.

'Wait wait wait wait WAIT.' Ellie instantly interrupted Hayden's dream of victory.

'What?'

-'You forgot I can't pass my driver's license to one of them once I passed through the security.' she firmly stated, hands folded.

'Damnit. I knew it went too smooth.' Hayden muttered.

'How long does it take for a legal person to get such an "ID"?' Zyra asked. Ellie turned to her, one eyebrow raised questiongly.

'Ehm, ranging from a few weeks to a few months, I think, why?'

-'And how much hinder do you experience when not having it?'

Hayden suddenly raised his head, understanding what she had in her mind.

'Oh no you don't...'

Ellie now turned to him, still confused.

'What now again?'

He switched his gaze to Zyra.

'You're NOT going to steal some licenses or whatever from other people.'

-'You were planning WHAT?' Ellie added.

'I don't see your problem.' Zyra responded unmoved. 'If it's so easy to get them back, why not borrow some?'

-' "Borrow.".'

'Do you want to get there or not?' she now stated in a cold tone. Hayden grimaced doubtful.

'There must be another way.' Ellie furrowed her brows in anger at Zyra.

'No need to get mad at me, I'm simply suggesting possible solutions.'

-'Zyra is right. There is no other option.' Riven suddenly spoke up. Hayden was struck in surprise. _Zyra with that idea, seemed somewhere legit, but Riven agreeing?_

'People who are illegal have no rights, nothing to turn to, no social safety net to fall back on. The people in charge don't even notice them or pay attention. Essentially, we are outcasts here, exiled from Valoran.' She clenched her fists a bit. 'We must take every chance we have...' she said , gritting her teeth softly. Zyra turned to Hayden and Ellie with her hands on her hips.

'And?'

Ellie and him exchanged a thoughtful look, but then Ellie sighed.

'I thought I'd never be convinced to actually commit a crime but... Hayden?'

'...People can get a new ID without much problems. But people can't get a departed family member back.' he said with now a confident look in his eyes. He turned to Zyra. 'I agree.'

'That leaves us with the problem that no one of us is a good pickpocketer.' Ellie mused out loud. To this, Riven shambled back and forth uncomfortably.

'Ehm, about that...'

Zyra's eyes went wide in astonishment.

'_You_? From all people,_ you_?'

-'And that combined with your clumsiness?' Ellie blurted out. Quickly, she covered her mouth with her hand, ashamed.

Riven exchanged a quick glare with her, one of the first he had seen her do, and it instantly sended a wave of raw deadliness towards Ellie, who visibly tensed up. Now, Riven sighed, let her head drop and answered in a tiny voice without looking up;

'Back in Noxus, when I was a child, I had to survive on stealing. Stealing, and fighting for the stolen food. I've seen other children, friends, die around me of starvation.' She looked back up with a hardened look in her eyes, slight beginnings of tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. 'I've seen my brother die in front of my eyes, in a desperate fight for some bread for us to survive the next morning.'

-'You...had a brother?' Hayden asked softly.

'That's right.' she replied, with a cold smile.

'Had.'

The atmosphere in the room had certainly lost some degrees after Riven's small retrospective. Zyra gazed at her in silence, hands crossed, a faint sadness percievable in her indifferent look. Hayden looked at Ellie and knew she had a wry feeling in her gut now because of her comment earlier.

'S-Sorry-I just-The words left my mouth befo-'

The ex-Noxian raised a hand to stop the flood of excuses of Ellie.

'It's okay. You couldn't know.' she said, a little bit of warmth returning to her voice. 'So that means just the ID's of two persons, right?' she went on, suddenly coming to the point again.

'If you have to opportunity, two women who resemble us at least somewhat. The less I have to change about the image, the better. As I mentioned, earlier, I'm not Lux or LeBlanc.' Zyra responded. Riven nodded in acknowledgment. She swayed her head in Hayden's direction.

'Well...time to go for some shopping?' she smiled.

* * *

><p>'...Remind me how you exactly convinced me to come along.' Zyra muttered, arms folded and her lips pursed in annoyance. They were on their way to the city again and Zyra, still not liking the cars of Earth, felt the need to express her dissatisfaction once again. Ellie, sitting at the other side of the backseat -Zyra had tried to convince Riven, who quickly had claimed the front seat, to switch with her, but Riven had just mischievously smiled and shaken her head- turned her head.<p>

'Awwww, is some grumpy? Should Hayden give you a kiss to make it all better again?' she teased. Zyra's cheeks rose and she gave her a deadly glare.

'Shut up.' she growled. Riven giggled a bit at their seemingly endless bickering.

'Awww Zyra, you don't have to be ashamed about it, I just _know_ there is something between you tw-'

-'Ellie, if you don't shut up now, I swear I'm going to turn around and put some duct tape over your mouth to silence you.' Hayden tiredly spoke up from the driver's seat. The girl just laughed and stretched, an expression of joy on her face.

* * *

><p>Upon arrival at the mall, Hayden frowned a bit and said;<p>

'I guess we'll get ourselves something in the supermarket or something, while you go like...'

-' Get some personal documents, to put it somewhat decently?' Riven filled in Hayden's unfinished sentence.

'Won't you attract too much attention with the white hair and red eyes? No offense.'

The girl waved away his excuse and just pulled the hood of her sweater over her head. It was big enough to cover her hair , with only some small strands peeking from below it.

'...And if I look down a bit no one will notice my eyes either.' she completed her reaction. 'Plus, people who look a bit down and indifferent will be more likely ignored. Raises the chances.' she smiled wryly. With that said, she turned around and started to walk towards the crowded main street.

'Don't for get to-'

-'Search for people with the same features, yes.' she immediately answered without looking over her shoulder. A moment later, she disappeared between the people.

'...This feels like some assassination in a way.' Ellie said with a wondering expression on her face.

…

They set off to their chosen supermarket and on the way, Ellie said;

'How long would it take her, you think?'

-'Around an hour? That would be my gamble.' Zyra responded. Hayden turned to her.

'Don't you think that's a bit fast?'

-'This is a crowded area, and if she's really experienced she'll easily scan the crowd and find the right persons, and if not, quickly go on. Although I still don't see Riven pickpocketing...'

While they were talking, they had already reached the building of the supermarket, and the doors slid open for them with their typical, sibilant sound.

'Except for food and other supplies, anyone got something they really want to buy?' Hayden started.

'Is there any way you can buy plants here?' was Zyra's response. Both Hayden and Ellie smiled at her question. She lifted an eyebrow at their response.

'...What?'

-'We were wondering how long it would take before you would ask that.' Ellie responded, still smiling. Zyra narrowed her eyes.

'And why's that?'

-'Because we figured it's only natural you would like to have plants around you. And that's also the reason we chose this specific supermarket. 'Come, follow me.'

Zyra turned to Hayden, who was already scanning the shelves for things they maybe needed.

'...You're not coming along?'

When she said his name he looked over his shoulder and smiled.

'Nah, it's better if we split up, while you go there, I'll already take care of the food. Enjoy your time alone with Ellie.' he grinned. Zyra muttered something and turned back to the smaller, now impatiently waiting girl.

…

'Say, Zyra?'

-'Look, we've only walked for three seconds and you're already starting trying to get me annoyed?' Zyra sighed. Ellie looked upset and started to walk half sideways, keeping her eyes on the other woman.

'I wanted to ask a serious question there! Come on, I'm not teasing you _all _the time.'

Zyra rolled with her eyes.

'...Fine.'

-'How do you feel when you see all these vegetables lying here, obviously taken from plants, with the plants mostly dying afterwards. Since you really take care of keeping them alive?'

_So it was a legit question for real..._Zyra brought her hand to her face, ticking her cheek with her index finger for a second, thinking.

'Well, there is a hierarchy in the flora as there is in the fauna, you know. These are all fruits of small plants, taking a spot in the very lowest parts. I couldn't care less for these, actually. However, if people start burning fields of them down without reason...'

Her eyes flared up in a bright yellow for a second.

'And what about the trees they cut for making paper?'

Zyra looked sideways with a somewhat curious look.

'Are you now actually taking interest in my way of thinking?'

-'Yes! You're, well, a woman like no other, obviously! I'd like to know more.' she ended, smiling. _Personal note: The thing actually shows normal behaviour and even interest. _

'...Depends on which trees they cut.'

-'Such as?'

Zyra lifted her head, looking upwards, a bit lost in thought. It took a while before she answered, and it sounded a bit from far away.

'If they...cut trees like maple, or Oryn or pines, it doesn't matter. They grow back fast enough and are plentiful enough.'

-'Ehm, Oryn?' the girl asked wonderingly. Zyra bowed her head down again, pulled out of her musing. She looked at the girl with a slightly dazed expression.

'Did I say that?'

The girl nodded  
>'...Sorry, that comes from the language of the Kumungu Jungle, I guess I was drifting off...It's a kind of tree that flourished the most there, you could cut a whole pack and the forest wouldn't notice, so many of them were there, and so fast did they grew.'<p>

-'There is a language of the Kumungu Jungle!?'

Ellie now sounded so enthousiastic she was doubting whether this was the seemingly simple-minded Ellie she knew.

'...Why do you want to know so much suddenly?'

The girl now blushed a bit and looked down.

'Well...I always wanted to know more of Valoran, but since there are always other things to talk about or to just...tease you with, it never really comes to mind to actually step up to you and gather the courage to ask you. And since we're now heading towards plants and are alone, I just blurted it out, like I always do with things I perhaps shouldn't say.' she ended with a hesitanting smile. _What in the world... _Zyra lifted an eyebrow, but internally, she was actually quite enjoyed by the interest and the cute way of saying it of the other girl.

'...Yes, there is. All things with an intelligence level that's high enough communicate, even you are capable of that.'

Ellie stuck out her tongue, frowning at her stingy comment. Zyra snickered and went on;

'But normally, it isn't meant to be like...spoken, in words. It's the language the intelligent plants and trees use to communicate.'

-'Then how are you capable of naming things like the Oryn?'

Zyra now halted, a faint expression of sadness appearing in her eyes.

'I'm the last of my kind, severed from the jungle I once called my home.' she said softly after a heavy, filled silence. 'The only thing I took with me as our legacy is my magic and that language...'

Zyra now bowed down her head, and for the first time, Ellie could see the sadness Zyra partly held inside about her past. 'In the beginning, I wasn't really able to fully grasp the gravity of that. There were too many new things. But eventually, it struck me. And somehere, it struck me with fear. That last bond, that one thing I took with me, that language... Since then, the most of time that I've been in human form is taken by trying to translate that language into the way I now mostly communicate in.'

-'In words.'

'Yes...'

Ellie could now clearly see the melancholic memories shifting through the head of Zyra, piercing her soul.

'I-I'm sorry, I did it again, I didn't mean to-'

-'It's nothing. I shouldn't be hiding it, if I once want to make that language understandable, no?' she smiled half-heartedly. Reaching the part of the supermarket that housed different kinds of plants for buying, Zyra walked in with a visible, comforted expression on her face. However, when she turned around, she saw an uncomfortable Ellie, seemingly in conflict with herself.

'...You're in doubt about something.'

Ellie looked up with a mix of enthusiasm and somewhere, fear, slightly jumping from one foot to the other. Zyra frowned a bit, not used to see her like that.

'Just say it.'

'I-I don't really know if I should ask this since you weren't so happy just know, but...could you say something in the language of the Kumungu Jungle?'

She said the last part of the sentence exceptionally fast, and Zyra was taken aback by as well that as by the content of it. Ellie noticed her discomfort and wanted to open her mouth to apologize, but Zyra was faster.

_'Teryn an uyi er Ytuion, Ellie.'_ she spoke softly but firmly, with a strange connotation to her voice. Before the other one could ask what it meant, she said:

'Curiousty can mean your death, Ellie.'

She jokingly showed a slight, but deadly grin before turning around, focusing on the plants again. Behind her, Ellie was struck with amazement, perhaps even more because she actually said her name. She herself felt oddly satisfied with having said that, a true, non-supressible smile adorning her face. _Maybe Riven was right...Perhaps I'll even grow fond of her..._

* * *

><p><strong>Okau so, I'm currently experimenting with switching some '...' with those horizontal lines when there are more that like, a minute apart-time spans involved, if someone has any advice or so about that, always happy to learn something new n.n <strong>

**Time to show the commenters some love back:3**

**Freak666chaos: Yeah, it also took place sooner that I had intended xd But I felt it would be more in its place here than where it would originally take place, so n.n**

**Hipoisthabest: Oh god Urgot, that's just too beautiful xd Just imagining a half-crab like, fat, deformed person-thing appear in your backyard or something, the actual fuck**

**tomy98: Dude. Your comment. Thank god it was still vacation, if I would've seen your comment while in class I would've been thrown out, I was laughing so hard xd And a mighty good idea there -eheh-**

**Sharantil: Somewhere I feel guilty I made you eat your computer :c Okay, on a more serious response, exams :c I need to pass if I want to continue my awesome studies :c But I'm trying my best to post, like this one, while I should be studying now actually haha ._.**

**That was it, another thanks for all the people who keep reading and liking, and an extra thanks for the people who comment and help me forth:3**

**ADamnGoodName out.**

**P.S. : And if there are people who like to stalk-or play, Ayeela (and me of course) plays on EUW:D (sorry dear, I couldn't resist xd)**


	10. Waiting For The Flight

**Here I am again with another chapter n.n For the people who follow this story and are already waiting quite a long time for an update, i'm deeply sorry :c  
>I just prefer quality over quantity, and couldn't just upload a quickly and hastily finished chapter, that just wouldn't do anything, I just didn't get the chance to write because of all the exams, forgive me ._.<br>However, I started again as soon as the exams were over, and this results in this very late chapter ^^**

**The following updates will be a bit sooner again probably, seeing as the exams are, well, over xd**

**Well, the usual, I hope all the people who follow and/or just read the story enjoy the chapter, and if you like or if you have a question/something you'd like to say, drop a comment or send me a pm :D**

**Riot own everything except for the OC's.**  
><strong>And a working EUW server, it seems<strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Waiting For The Flight<strong>

When Hayden was almost finished gathering supplies _-Such a fancy word- _he saw Zyra and Ellie returning...chattering casually? Zyra was carrying a cross-over between a succulent and a winder. Ellie on her turn was dragging along a large bag, which seemed quite heavy, seeing the effort she had to make to carry it.

'I somewhere expected it, but it's still funny to see you actually buying that plant.' he said when they arrived at his spot.

'Well, I guess Zyra still remains the little plant deeeep inside...' Ellie responded, eyes in the direction of Zyra, brows happily raised.

'I'm surprised Zyra hasn't already beaten the crap out of you.' Hayden spoke tiredly.

'I don't want to cripple her physically as well, the poor thing is already so mentally challenged.'

Ellie gasped and gave her an angry glare, which did nothing more but bringing a satisfied grin to Zyra's face. Hayden turned to Ellie.

'And you, what the hell are you carrying?'

-'You're not going to believe this, she-'

-'A bed!' Ellie joyfully exclaimed. Hayden looked at her in silence.

'...What.' he said when he finally found his voice again. Don't you dare to tell me you want to permanently live at my place...'

Ellie seemed down and pouted at his remark, and for a second Hayden though he had actually offended her. But then her facial expression turned into her trademark smile.

'...I can stay sometimes?' she asked with her best interpretation of sad puppy eyes. Sadly, she was very good at it. He sighed.

'...For once I'm going to go with Zyra's opinion. You're unbelievable.'

-'Woohooo!' Ellie shouted happily, taking that as a yes. In her little jump of joy, she dropped the bag. With a loud thud**, **it hit the ground.

'Oops...'

Zyra beheld the scene with big eyes.

'You're gonna let _that_ stay for the night? _Multiple times!?_'

Ellie opened her mouth for a stingy response, but Hayden halted her.

'Please not here. Again. It's entertaining, but not the entire time...'

-'I think he's right, you should really stop all that provocation, Zyra.' Ellie said with her hands on her hips, pretending to be stern.

'**ELLIE**!'

The girl laughed and turned in the direction of the pay desk and walked away.

'And here I thought you two would at least have made a bit of peace, seen the easy-going way you two came walking towards me.'

-'Oh, we did.' Zyra said with a smile on her face that seemed to have escaped from a beautiful memory. 'I guess she just can't be helped.'

-'Wow...that's the warmest smile I've ever seen on your face concerning Ellie.

'Ah, shut up.' Zyra mumbled.

* * *

><p>They were sitting on a bench with the groceries, including the bed and the plant next to them on the ground, when Zyra ticked Hayden on his arm. She pointed in a direction just behind him, answering his unpronounced question. When both him and Ellie looked that way, they saw a familiar blue sweater appear between the crowd and a second later, Riven emerged from the clusters of people, hands in her pockets, sauntering towards them.<p>

'And?' Zyra asked right away when she stopped next to the bench. Riven just smiled and pulled no less than six cards out of her pockets. When she saw their surprised faces she laughed a bit in her typical, soft way.

'Better to have a few to spare than not having enough, no?'

-'This is amazing? I expected _something_, but this? From _you?'_

Riven blushed a bit.

'I could've gotten quite some more, you know. It's awful to see how inattentive some people are...' her eyes went sideways and she looked a bit down.

'I still feel bad for those persons, though...' she said, biting her lip a bit.

'It doesn't matter now.' Zyra indifferently said while examining the different cards. Ellie leaned towards her.

'Ehm, shouldn't you better be doing that at home? You never know, someone might pass by and see what we're doing.'

Zyra looked up with an annoyed look, since she pulled her out of her occupation.

'Fine, fine, Miss Paranoid...'

The corners of Ellie's mouth dropped.

'I'm just trying to _help _for once!'

* * *

><p>Sitting at the table, Zyra went through the ID's once more, slightly ticking on the tabletop with her nails in faint concentration.<p>

'I think I'll go with these two.' she decided.

'You'll be Norah Rodgers.' she said, while handing Riven the driver's license.

'I think she might quite a bit taller than you, but her face resembles yours a lot, she even has the same haircut.'

-'And you?' Riven smiled.

'I sadly have to become Jessica Campbell. Bleh, what a name.' she said with a slightly disgusted tone.

'She wears her hair in a ponytail!' noticed Ellie, suddenly appearing behind her, looking over her shoulder.

'You should do that too sometimes!'

Zyra looked at her as if she had said that she should eat some dirt or something.

'No. Way.'

-'Aww, pretty please?' _And I meant it._' she almost sternly added, noticing the looks of Hayden and Zyra.

'You know my answer.' Zyra stubbornly stated.

'Fine, fine...I'm sure it would look beautiful on you, seeing your nice facial features and eyes, but whatever...'

Zyra unexpectedly blushed at the compliments. Riven was amused by the situation, but clearly wanted to go on.

'How much will that flight cost us, Hayden?'

Hayden turned to Riven, who leaned relaxed against the wall.

'That's one of the problems, it'll probably cost us some, and my money isn't endless. But don't worry, you can't help it that you were all thrown out here from Valoran.'

-'What about I pay for two and you pay for two?' Ellie proposed.

'Hmm...I guess that has to do it, then.'

* * *

><p>After Hayden had checked the news online and pinpointed the location, he was quickly able to book a flight.<p>

'And? When do we leave?' Zyra impatiently asked.

'Easy, Zyra, I booked it last minute, but it will still take a week and a half.'

-'Goddamnit.' she growled.

'No choice but to wait.' came the voice of Ellie from the living room, already setting up the bed.

'How many times are you planning to try and ask to spend the night here? Hayden asked when she was finished setting up the bed.

'Really only just now and then!' Ellie almost shouted. He looked into her eyes and already saw the next question burning in the bright blue orbs.

'...Like tonight.'

She smiled guilty as charged and placed her hands on her hips, but still tried though.

'Well, how would you know that? Maybe-'

-'Like tonight.' he just sliced through her trying. She looked at him and stuck out her tongue.

'I guess you know me too well... Can I stay for the night?' Ellie still asked like it wasn't clear yet.

'Alright...'

Her smile grew wider as she let herself fall down on the bed.

* * *

><p>Later on the evening, they were all about to sit down on the now two beds, to watch some television. Ellie insisted -of course- that Hayden and Zyra would take one bed and she and Riven the other one to sit on. To her surprise, Zyra responded to the teasing with looking directly at her with a challenging smile and next neatly sitting down on the lap of the already seated Hayden.<br>Riven eyed the situation with big eyes, not expecting that kind of reaction from Zyra. She softly laughed and went to sit down on the other bed. Ellie, who now was recovered from her initial surprise, countered Zyra's smile with an expression that implied 'and what now?'. But when she saw the cute way Zyra slightly cuddled up to Hayden, the expression faded and made place for a warm smile. She couldn't even pronounce her next sentence before she was struck silent again. Zyra, having not payed attention to Ellie anymore, bended upwards and gave Hayden a soft kiss, which Hayden tenderly returned.

'...How long?' she asked when she had finally gathered herself again. Zyra, who had laid her head against Hayden, lifted it again and gave her a teasing but warm smile.

'Ehm, it's not like I count the days, a while?'

Ellie turned to Riven, who was just watching with a smile.

'You knew about this?'

She nodded.

'And you didn't tell me?' Ellie disappointedly went on. Riven now gave Ellie the look Hayden already was familiar with, which could give you the feeling you were screened.

'Nothing is more precious to a person than his or her feelings. I don't mess with that.' she softly said, her red eyes holding Ellie in place. 'And I figured you knew all along anyway?'

-'No, I was just teasing...I didn't expect it to really...'

Ellie jumped from one foot to the other, which Zyra noticed she did when she felt really awkward. The girl didn't quite know what to say after the warmly spoken, but harsh response of Riven. Sadly for Zyra, this just took a mere minute. She turned to the two, with once again the excited smile on her face.

'Do it again!'

While Riven face palmed behind her, Zyra's smile was replaced by the trademark annoyed expression she ofter wore around Ellie for totally no obvious reason.

'Now you want us to kiss on demand or what?'

-'I just want to make sure I wasn't seeing things!' Ellie on her turn pouted.

'I'm not sure if I should be amazed by or your stupidity or your devotion.' Zyra stated with slightly pursed lips, tired.

'Come on...grant me this one pleasure?' the girl still tried in a captivatingly cute voice. The red haired woman on her turn sighed, but to the surprise of everyone she smiled at Ellie and once more turned to Hayden, giving him a deep, soft kiss. When their lips parted again, she could see Ellie in front of her, almost enchanted by what happened just now, but more specifically Riven in the background forming the words_ '...growing fond of her...'_. Zyra frowned at the giggle of the other woman by her reaction.

'You. Two. Are. Just. So. CUTE!' Ellie happily exclaimed, clapping her hands. Zyra sighed once more.

'I'm already doubting whether I should've granted you that pleasure...'

Ellie joyfully swayed around, heading towards the kitchen.

'Who wants some hot chocolate milk?' she loudly asked when she was inside the kitchen.

'Yeah, sure!' Hayden called out while switching on the television.

'Make that two!' Riven yelled after him. Zyra looked at him with a wondering expression on her face.

'Hot chocolate milk? How does that taste like?'

He laughed at her puzzled face, which made her pull up an eyebrow.

'You know, you keep surprising me, about some plain things you know a lot, but about other evenly plain things like this it seems you haven't even heard about, how in the world...?'

-'Rather, make that three, Ellie!' Riven suddenly shouted, having listened to their small exchange of words.

'Got it!' was the loud response of Ellie.

'You took the words right out if my mouth.' Hayden smiled at Riven.

A minute later Ellie, reappeared from the kitchen, dangerously balancing four cups in her hands, two in each hand.

'You are so damn lucky you didn't spill any hot milk over yourself on your way here.' Hayden noted. Ellie waved away his remark.

'Perfect balance.'

-'I hope you trip the next time you stand up' Zyra quickly responded. She then proceeded to blow some steam out of the cup that was now damping in her hands, having taken it from the plate.

'Let's see how this tastes...'

She took a small sip and let the flavour linger around in her mouth for a while, pondering.

'Can I next time taste something without you all staring me down?' was the first thing she said with a weary expression, noticing the curious looks of the other three. 'But, it tastes quite good.' she smiled.

'What's on television actually?' Ellie asked onwards.

'I have no idea. I was just browsing through the channels to see if I would find something good.'

-'Oooooooooh, the Titanic is on tonight! Can we see it, pretty pretty pleeeaaasee.' Ellie gleefully asked when she had taken a look in the magazine that showed the programs of the week.

'Oh please Ellie, not that one...'

-But, but, but, but,..'

-'What's it about?' Riven curiously asked.

'It's about people who go on a cruise but then the boat hits an iceberg and sinks.'

Ellie sent him a massively disapproving look.

'It's way more than that! It's such an emotional and romantic love story about a couple, with such strong passion, love and tragedy...' she dreamingly said, hands put together, eyes closed. 'Soooo?' she asked again, opening her eyes to him again.

'I refuse to watch anything the thing likes so much.' Zyra roughly responded without a hint of mercy. Riven covered her mouth trying not to laugh at the sight of Ellie looking at Zyra, offended and angry.

'...I guess that's a no.' Hayden slightly smiled. Ellie pouted and seated herself next to Riven , arms crossed and an expression on her face that rivaled that of the most stubborn children.

'Fine.'

* * *

><p>After the relaxed evening everyone started to go to bed, and Ellie was the first one to stand up. She wanted to take a first step, but she tumbled over the cushions in her way and fell face-first on the ground, eyes big in surprise. Zyra rose from Hayden's lap and walked up to the fallen girl, now lying on the ground, ashamed.<p>

'Perfect balance.' she smiled.

'Shut up.' Ellie mumbled from on the ground, grumpy. Riven laughed and bent over, reaching for Ellie with her hand. The girl thankfully took hold of Riven's opened hand and lazily let herself being pulled up by the stronger woman. Once up straight again, she brushed off her skirt and already wore her trademark smile again.  
>However, when Zyra already turned to upstairs, not paying attention anymore, Ellie showed a grin that almost could be interpreted as devilishly. When she looked back and faced Ellie, Zyra looked at Hayden, who shared the same confused expression as her. However, they both felt something bad was coming. Ellie placed her hands on her hips while her crystal blue eyes beamed the two down.<p>

'Now you two have no excuse to not sleep together upstairs.' she joyfully, yet slyly said.

'Who said we weren't planning to?' the red head countered, her smile rivaling hers. Once more, Ellie was astonished.

'Hayden, what kind of side effects can hot chocolate milk give you?'

-'Ehm, sugar rush?'

'And if you're a plant?'

-'What the fuck, Ellie?'

Zyra tilted her head, seemingly not listening to the conversation, the smile still adorning her face.

'Taken aback back by me ignoring or just going along with your teasing?'

Ellie lifted a finger in denial and opened her mouth, but clearly didn't find the exact words, since she just remained in place like that, her mouth comically opened, blinking. Zyra backed away a bit, one eyebrow raised.

'Is your mind finally deteriorating?' she said questioningly. Ellie slowly closed her mouth and shook her head, her expression changing from totally idiotic to warm.

'I hope you two will have a great night together, I'm really happy for you two.'

Now it was Zyra's turn to look at her with big eyes, not being able to fully comprehend Ellie being so straightforwardly loving. However, Ellie's smile quickly turned into a sly one, as she walked up to Zyra.

'But at least try to get _some _sleep, I don't want to be kept awake the entire night, however cute I expect your moans to be.' she whispered. Zyra didn't show any sign of embarrassment and quickly replied;

'You're here all downstairs, the room not even bordering our room, how would you even hear something from upstairs?'

Ellie narrowed her eyes, her grin now reaching from ear to ear.

'So you admit something _will_ be going on tonight?' she smiled, twinkles dancing in her blue eyes.

'W-Wha-Do you even- Nothing's gonna happen!' Zyra now exclaimed, not able to contain her blush anymore.

'Stop meddling with her, Ellie.' sounded the voice of Riven through their conversation. The platinum haired, young woman had risen from her seating place as well and walked up to them. Her red eyes easily pierced through the blue ones of Ellie with a deeper gaze.

'She finally found love, and now you keep going on about it, at least leave her nights alone. She deserves _some_ privacy.' she said, soft but stern. The petite girl was a bit intimidated by the strong-bodied, former exile. She mumbled something in apologize and quickly went on gathering the cups and taking them to the kitchen. Zyra turned to Riven with relieved smile.

'Thank you...'

Now, Hayden's green eyes also locked with Riven's crimson irises.

'Aren't you a bit hypocritical there? Since you were the first to tease us with it.' he said with a mix of austerity and tease, although there was a bit of disapproval resonating through his words.

'Maybe a bit. But I wouldn't ask how your night life is, or even how you exactly made love, you just' she quickly sent Zyra a small smile, 'woke me up with it.'

After hearing that, Hayden and Zyra now shared a deep blush.

'But Ellie would keep digging until she would find what she was looking for. And I wanted to spare you from that.'

She turned to Hayden with a more questioning look.

'Am I right about Ellie there?'

Hayden nodded.

'Sadly you are. But she doesn't mean to cause any harm, she's just-'

-'Like Lux.' Zyra dryly noted.

'Yeah, sort of... She just wants us to be happy I guess...in her own way.

'She just likes you, Zyra.' Riven said.

'...And I thought with Ellie out of the room the teasing would stop.' the crimson haired woman sighed.

'Yeah, why don't you show the poor girl some love back?' Hayden followed up, sharing Riven's smile.

'Who says I don't?' Zyra suddenly answered with a cryptic smile. While laughing at the two others disorientated by her response, she disappeared upstairs.

'…Sugar rush?' Riven asked doubtingly after a short silence. Hayden just lifted his shoulders.

* * *

><p>Later, upstairs in his bedroom, they were cozily lying in the bed, when Zyra turned around and cuddled up to him, her full breasts slightly pushing against him again, like two soft pillows.<p>

'I'm still surprised by you being such a affectionate woman, Zyra.' he smiled. 'And that you don't feel embarrassed...' he softly spoke, although blushing. With a loving motion, he returned the embrace.

'I-I just find comfort in being close to you, having you in my arms...' she whispered. 'And I have no problems with exposing my body, why would I? She tenderly said. 'Don't like it?' she teased onwards, while pressing her two soft bulbs of womanly flesh against him.

'Actually, no, I love it.' he smiled, making up for his initial reaction. Zyra responded to his smile with a soft kiss, which gladly accepted, while caressing her hair. After a small exchange of kisses, Zyra laid her head on his chest.

'I don't want to give the thing any chance of teasing...neither Riven... So goodnight, Hayden' she said, closing her eyes. '...I love you...' she added in a tiny voice, with her last words carrying so much love it almost made his heart race.

'You're so cheesy sometimes, Zyra...' he grinned. While her words warmed his chest on the inside, her head and upper body did on the outside. Her chest was slowly sinking and rising, the pretty pressure of her breasts increasing and decreasing with every breath, like the waves on a beach. His left hand slowly went through her hair as he answered;

'Sweet dreams, Zyra...'

His eyes were already closed, and with the ebb and flow of her breathing rhythm against him, he drifted off to the world of the sleeping

* * *

><p>The week passed by faster than they had expected, everyone just enjoying each others company, gotten used to each other. With three -practically four- people residing in his house, Hayden's days were more filled than ever, but not in a bad way, although it still had its flaws. To Zyra, it was Ellie, and her constant teasing, but even she acknowledged the center of those flaws. Him. Or rather, his scar. No matter how peaceful the days were, his scar still continued to resurface, like a slumbering entity. Luckily for him not too much, but it was still enough to make Zyra, Ellie and Riven worried. When Hayden was out getting food, they both were sitting at the kitchen table, discussing.<p>

'We have to do something about the frequency, before it increases. _You_ have to do something about it.' Riven said, more sternly than she had meant to sound. Zyra looked to the side a bit, her mind clearly astray.

'...I would love to...but I don't even know what it is... I only know it triggers as a self-defense system so far, so I figure it's safe for now.'

-'It doesn't.' came the voice of Ellie, who suddenly appeared in the door frame. She continued to walk up to them, and once she reached their seating place at the table, she continued;

'When I arrived that day we-ehm, you discovered the slumbering powers within him, I first went to see Hayden. I asked how he felt about it, and in response he got a bit mad, out of pure frustration and helplessness, I think. That was the first time I saw a glimpse of the transformation. Just partly, but it was there. So I guess strong emotions trigger it too.'

Zyra and Riven exchanged a look, Zyra's lips wryly turned down in guilt, Riven's pursed.

'You can ask Diana what raw, strong emotions do with a power-given person on the wrong moment, Zyra. With both the person and its surroundings.' Riven began.

'What do you want me to do? I'm not Soraka.' Zyra responded briefly, holding back. She folded her hands, clearly getting angry.

'We can't leave him like this, Zyra! You're the one that poisoned him, for fucks sake!' Riven said, now raising both her voice and from her seat.

'I don't even know what it is!' Zyra finally snapped, standing up so all of the sudden that the chair she was sitting on fell backwards, clattering on the ground.

'How can I cure that what I don't even comprehend!?' she fumed, eyes narrowed. Ellie backed away a bit, intimidated by the two stronger women, their locked gazes sizzling, sparks almost leaping off.

'Don't treat me like I should magically cure it simply because-I-I was the one that caused it!' she gritted, clenching her fists, eyes flaring up in bright yellow again. Riven placed her hands on the table and sent her a challenging glare, her crimson eyes piercing the air.

'Well, what do you want me to do then? You're the one controlling magic here! I only work with runic energy, Ellie doesn't even know what mechanics lay behind magic!' Riven exclaimed. 'But it's a part of your magic! ...Of you!'

Ellie awkwardly darted away another step, feeling drawn in now.

'Look, you two should just calm down and-'

-'If you think I don't even _try_ to help, you're wrong! I don't know what triggers it, what it can do, hell, I even don't know what it exactly is! And I know it's my fault, mine and **mine **alone! If you want to know, even in my dreams it haunts me, that I am the one that dragged him down!' Zyra growled, teeth sharpening and vegetation slightly returning to her face. Riven slammed her fist down on the table with such force that it caused a slight crack in the wood.

'Well, I haven't seen you try yet! I-'

-'For fucks sake, **STOP**!' Ellie suddenly shouted, even she surprised by her own action now. The two other women turned to her in slight disbelief, being evenly surprised.

'This isn't helping...' Ellie softly continued, now feeling small again. Riven's fingers twitched a bit, but she then let her shoulders sink and opened her hand again.

'...Sorry.'

Her eyes found those of Zyra again, but now with the crimson irises filled with guilt and slight shame.

'Why did we even...' she blinked a bit. Zyra shook her head, evenly questioned. Now calmed again, she took a deep breath, her face turning fully human again. A small, awkward silence followed.

'You guys are really scary when you get angry...' Ellie said in a tiny voice, breaking the silence.

'I-I guess we're just worried...' Zyra softly said on her turn. Riven looked down a bit, silent. She then noticed the small crevice in the table. She turned her head up again and looked at the other two.

'...Did I do that?' she asked, pointing at the misshapen part of the table top. Ellie nodded slowly, gulping a bit.

'Oops...' the platinum haired girl awkwardly answered.

'Now I know why you could effortlessly drag Hayden along.' Ellie said with a soft laugh. Riven smiled, comforted lights returning to her eyes. Zyra had her arms crossed and looked down, lost in deep thought.

'Look, you don't have to take it all on you now, Zyra. Don't pay attention to what I said just now, it was a small outburst and I didn't meant to-' Riven began, but Zyra lifted her hand to halt her.

'You...just gave me things to ponder about, I guess. One more thing,' she now looked directly at both the other two. 'Hayden doesn't need to know about this, okay? I think he would even feel worse about it if he knew that we even start to quarrel because of it.'

-'Hmmm.' Riven hummed in a affirmative tone.

'...I'll find something.' Zyra continued, turning around and walking away.

'_We_ will find something.' Ellie firmly adapted, back in her enthusiastic way of thinking. Zyra didn't give a sign of having heard Ellie, but the girl could almost feel the slight, relieved smile on Zyra's face before the last locks of her scarlet hair danced out of sight as she exited the room.

* * *

><p><strong>For all the commenters and people who really like this story, you have a special place in my heart:3 Knowing that people enjoy my story gives me the courage to continue ^^ But I've probably said that multiple times again :$<strong>

**Freak666chaos: **Thanks, the fact that you experience it as them all really getting bonded means my purpose was a succes! :D And about the spider cult, yes that was one of the options, but I decided to take anotherroute at the final decision stage

**Guest: **Thank you my friend :D I hope you'll enjoy it for the following chapters as well^^

**Kevinkiwiboi: **Giving away when the first male Champion will show up and who it is would be a massive spoiler, no? :c I admit, it unintentionally starts to turn into a harem, but I assure you, this wasn't my intention xd I just like the persona's of the female Champions more, I guess?$

**tomy98: **Well, yeah, Kevinkiwiboi mentioned that as well, it maybe I can turn it into a totally kawaii harem after all :D Kappa

**Croziff: **I'm honoured :$ I hope I can make you happy with this chapter as well ^^

**preytora: **Haha, now I feel guilty because I'm not yet including Elise in this chapter, I guess you have to wait :c And yeah, I had some various ideas with what I can do with Elise mixed in the story, and I'll see up to what level Elise will interfere with their lives there if she likes to ;D

**4EverDanyPT: **And I'm honoured that you went through all the trouble of specially making an account here to comment, while you just could've said it on League xd

**One more thing, as you can see I slightly changed the layout for the reply section, if you'd like, give a comment on it whether it's better or not, so I can change it back if better in bold ^^**

With the new ranked season running, I also wish everyone that's ranking and wants to get higher the best of luck!:D

ADamnGoodName logging out.


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